we're tied together by our souls
by ByakuyaxRukiaKuchikifan
Summary: Summary: When he sealed the Kyuubi in Naruto, Minato's soul was not taken by the death god like he first thought. Instead, his soul was sealed in another person's mind. How will it go when Sakura finds out that the soul of the Fourth Hokage is sealed in her mind? How will it affect her and will there be something else than friendship?
1. Chapter 1

We're Tied Together by Our Souls

Summary: When he sealed the Kyuubi in Naruto, Minato's soul was not taken by the death god like he first thought. Instead, his soul was sealed in another person's mind. How will it go when Sakura finds out that the soul of the Fourth Hokage is sealed in her mind? How will it affect her and will there be something else than friendship?

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 1: The Pain

It was an ordinary day in Konoha or rather not so ordinary. Sakura Haruno was on her way to the Hokage tower. It had been a year since she started to train with the Fifth Hokage, Senju Tsunade.

Naruto had left the village with Jiraiya for a three year training trip. She knew what she needed to do. She needed to get stronger to help Naruto bring Sasuke back.

_"When Naruto comes back, we will bring Sasuke-kun back. I won't be left behind." _Sakura thought determined.

She arrived to the Hokage tower where Tsunade and Shizune were waiting for her to start her training.

Sakura found herself outside Tsunade's office. She knocked on the door.

"Come in"

Sakura walked in and saw her teacher sitting at her desk doing paperwork while Shizune watched the blonde woman doing what she was supposed to do.

Tsunade looked up and a smile appeared, "Well, there you are my little student, ready for more training?"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama"

"Good, let's get down to business. It's time to head down to the training ground."

Tsunade stood up from her chair and walked around the desk and past Sakura. Sakura turned around and followed the blonde Sannin out of the office.

They arrived to the training ground and Sakura felt nothing but gratitude towards the older woman. She gave Sakura hope, that even she could be stronger. Tsunade made her believe in herself, that even she, a kunoichi from a civil family could become stronger.

Tsunade turned to Sakura, her honey colored eyes watching the teenager in front of her.

"Now then Sakura, I want you to start meditating."

Sakura nodded and sat down under one of the trees and took deep breaths and started to meditate.

Tsunade sat down a bit from her and watched the pink haired girl in silence.

After what felt like an hour, Sakura opened her eyes and watched Tsunade.

"Now then are you ready?"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama"

"Good, we'll be sparring today. Don't hold back, got it?"

"Hai!"

Suddenly Tsunade leaped forward, startling Sakura but she managed to shake it off and dodged Tsunade's attack.

Sakura focused her charka in her fists when she got a weird feeling.

Tsunade saw her stop and landed a couple of meters away from her.

"Sakura, what's the matter? Something wrong?"

Sakura flinched but tried to shake off the weird feeling.

"I'm not sure. I got this uncomfortable feeling at the back of my head, but whatever that was the feeling is gone now."

Tsunade just nodded.

"Let's continue then shall we?"

"Hai."

Several hours later, Sakura and Tsunade ended their training session for the day. Shizune had left them; she had been summoned to the hospital.

Tsunade returned to her office, leaving Sakura alone, who was currently on her way back to her apartment.

The sun was going down and the streets of Konoha were slowly getting empty.

Sakura hurried to get home, she was tired and she needed a shower.

Looking around Sakura saw children with their parents.

Then she saw a little boy with his father. Sakura sighed, _"I hope everything is all right with you Naruto, we miss you greatly. __Konoha is not the same without you around."_

Sakura arrived at her apartment and went inside; she kicked off her shoes and decided to take a long warm shower for her arching muscles.

Suddenly the pain at the back of her head started again, only this time worse.

Sakura grabbed her head, her eyes shut tight.

"_What is this? What's going on?"_

Suddenly everything turned black.

**To be continued…**

Hey people! What's up? This is my newest story, all thanks to Goddess OF Deaths who came up with this idea, to help me get inspired again to write my stories. So it will be another MinatoxSakura pairing.

And I also want to say thanks to my beta reader, westwindwaker who is helping me.

This was short but it will get better, I promise.

Please enjoy and I hope you'll leave a review.


	2. Chapter 2

**We're Tied Together by Our Souls**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**Chapter 2**

Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, was the man who sealed the Kyuubi and got his soul taken by the death god, or so he thought. Instead of being sealed in the death god's stomach, Minato found himself somewhere else.

"Where I am?" he muttered. Looking around Minato saw nothing but white. Minato was known as a genius, but right now he didn't feel like one. Frustrated, Minato sat down on the ground frowning.

He had expected to be stuck inside the death god, not whatever this place he was in right now.

Suddenly, the white around him disappeared and Minato found himself in a forest.

"May I ask who the hell you are and why you're inside my head?!"

Minato jumped to his feet, turned around, and saw a young girl about sixteen or seventeen years of age. By the looks by it, she was a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village, the same village he used to be Hokage of. What made her intriguing was her hair. It was pink.

In some way she reminded him of Kushina with her unique hair color.

_"Wait, did she say I was in her head?"_

"I'm sorry. I am Minato and how I got here, I have no idea. You said, 'inside my head', so this is happening in your mind? And may I ask your name?"

The girl nods her head slowly.

"Well yeah, I guess so. Call me Sakura. Do you really have no clue how you got inside my head?" Sakura asked, looking confused and nervous.

Minato sighed. He could tell she was nervous; he could not blame her, however. Finding a stranger stuck in your head is not a common thing.

"Look, I know this seems weird, but I can assure you I mean no harm. I have no clue how I got here."

Sakura bit her bottom lip and sighed, "All right then I guess we have to get used to each other 'til we find a way to get you out of my head. No offense, but it feels weird to have someone I don't know in my head."

"No offense taken. However, maybe it's better that we keep this to ourselves, I don't want to cause you any trouble."

"Yeah, of course. But there is someone I know who I can trust with this issue and can probably help us."

Minato looked at the girl in front of him. "Who?" he asked curiously.

Sakura smiled, "Tsunade-shishou."

Minato blinked, at first he thought he had heard wrong, so he asked again just to be sure.

"Did you just say Tsunade?"

Sakura nodded.

"Hai, she is my shishou, I started to train with her about a year ago. I asked her myself if she could train me."

"And she just accepted? Just like that?"

When Sakura nodded to his question, Minato didn't know what to say. He was surprised that Tsunade had taken on another student to teach. He had thought Shizune was the only one who would get that honor.

Then something clicked in his head.

"Sakura-chan, since you're here in your mind, did you fall asleep or faint?"

"Eh…well the last thing I can recall is that I felt a sharp pain in my head and then everything turned black, so I guess I fainted or something. I had just finished my training with Tsunade for the day."

"Oh… well, were you able to get home before you fainted?"

"I'm really not sure, but I think so."

Minato frowned but nodded.

Sakura watched the man in front of her. His blonde hair and blue eyes reminded her of Naruto. Strangely, there were similar features between this man and Naruto.

Suddenly, everything started to blur for her and last thing she saw was Minato turning around.

Outside Sakura's Mind

Sakura groaned and slowly opened her eyes. When she could see clearly, she realized she was on her apartment floor.

"_Well at least you were in your own apartment."_

Sakura flew to her feet and looked around until she realized that it was just Minato who had spoken in her head.

"Really Minato? You just had to scare me like that?"

_"Well, I didn't expect you to jump several meters into the air. Because you know? You're a ninja, shouldn't you be prepared for anything?"_ Minato asked in a teasing tone.

"Ha-ha very funny, blonde."

_"Hey!"_

"What? Did I say something?"

_"You called me blonde!"_

"Well… it suits you somehow, since you have blonde hair and all."

Sakura snickered when she heard Minato start to grumble and complain about his new nickname.

Sakura went to the kitchen and decided to have some dinner.

_"Sakura-chan, May I ask you a question?"_

"You just did."

_"Sakura…" _Minato sighed in warning.

"Of course! Just ask."

_"How come you wanted to train under Tsunade? Aren't you a part of a team?"_

Sakura froze, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

"Right now my team is split apart because we are training with different teachers."

_"Really, how did that happen?"_

"One of my teammates left the village with Orochimaru to become stronger to get his revenge. The second is training with Jiraiya."

_"Really? What are their names?"_

"Sasuke and Naruto."

Minato quieted. The girl's mind he is stuck in is his son's teammate. Perhaps he could learn something about him.

_"Okay, so who left the village then?"_

"Sasuke."

_"Why would he leave the village?"_

"Because his family was murdered by his big brother, Itachi Uchiha."

_"Itachi?! No way!"_

"Why? And why are you so curious about my teammates, anyways?"

Minato was silent for a while so Sakura thought he wouldn't answer her, but when he did he took her by surprise.

_"I just wanted to get to know you, since I will probably be here inside your mind for a while."_

Sakura chuckled, nodding.

"Well, I guess you're right, but while you want to know me better, I would rather know more about who is stuck in my head."

Minato chuckled at her comment.

_"Well, I guess that's fair. You tell me about yourself and your team, and I will tell you more about me. I promise I won't lie to a young lady such as yourself."_

"Well aren't you a charming man?"

_"I have been told that many times…Cherry."_

"Cherry?"

_"Well, you called me blonde, so it must be fair that I can call you Cherry."_

Sakura sighed. This would be a long evening.

**To be continued…**

Second chapter finished yay! Thank you for giving me reviews. I'm happy to know there are people who like it.

I hope you keep reading and giving me reviews, and thank you westwindwaker for helping me.


	3. Chapter 3

We're Tied Together by Our Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 3

Sakura was on her way to the Hokage tower. She hadn't gotten much sleep because she and Minato had talked, telling themselves about each other. Minato had even asked more about Naruto and Sasuke. He seemed to be concerned for both of them. Sakura was a bit concerned to have a man in her head, but what could she do about it?

She was hoping Tsunade could help, and that she would believe her. She did not want Tsunade thinking that she was insane.

On her way to Tsunade, she saw Ino and her teammates talking with Asuma and Kurenai.

Sakura couldn't help but smile when she saw how they acted with each other.

Sakura felt a pain in her chest, knowing that by seeing them she got reminded of her teammates who weren't even in the village.

Sure, Kakashi was probably somewhere reading his stupid book. Shaking her head, Sakura moved along as she needed to get to Tsunade.

She needed to find answers: Why did she have a man in her head? Why was Minato sealed in her head out of all the people out there?

Sakura arrived at Tsunade's office. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Sakura opened the door and saw Tsunade doing paper work. Surprisingly, Shizune wasn't there. Tsunade looked up and saw her student standing there.

"Well, come in, Sakura."

"Hai, Shishou."

Tsunade put down the pencil and leaned back in the chair.

"These papers will be my death."

Sakura smiled, "I don't believe that Shishou, you'll do just fine."

Tsunade chuckled, opened one of the drawers of her desk, and lifted up a bottle of sake.

"Really, Shishou? It's not even the afternoon yet and you plan to start drinking now?"

"Well… you can join me if you want," Tsunade said, smirking.

Sakura laughed, but shook her head.

"Well, thank you for that, but there is something I need to tell you."

Tsunade frowned, put down the sake, and motioned Sakura to sit down.

"What's the matter Sakura?"

Sakura bit her lower lip and gulped, "Well, it's complicated, because I just found out yesterday." Sakura looked down for a moment and whispered, "However, I don't think you would believe me."

Tsunade looked worried.

"Has something happened Sakura? I will listen to what you have to say before I say anything."

Sakura smiled a grateful smile. Tsunade hadn't just been her teacher, she also became like a mother to her. Tsunade supported her and helped her anyway she could, unlike her real mother, who didn't want Sakura to become a shinobi; it was dangerous. Therefore, she and Sakura hardly ever talk anymore.

"Well, when I came home after our training, I was exhausted. I fainted and then I was in my head. I knew I wasn't dreaming. However I wasn't alone in my head, there was someone else. He told me he had no clue how he got in my head and wasn't sure how to get out."

Tsunade frowned and stood, walking up to Sakura

"Shishou?"

Tsunade walked behind Sakura and moved her hair to the side. Tsunade then focused some chakra in one of her fingers and put it on Sakura's neck.

When she did, a small complicated seal appeared which said much, since her grandmother had been an Uzumaki, and Tsunade had spent much time with Mito and learned about seals.

Tsunade frowned. She had never seen such a seal before.

"Be still Sakura, I found a seal on your neck. I'll try to break the seal, so you might feel a bit of pain in your neck."

Sakura nodded.

Tsunade did a hand seal and pushed some chakra into the seal to try and break it.

Sakura flinched, feeling a small jolt of pain which got much worse when Tsunade touched the seal.

Clenching her fists and closing her eyes, Sakura tried to hold back a scream of pain.

Tsunade, seeing Sakura in pain, stopped immediately. Sakura fell forward and panted. The pain lessened.

When Sakura got her breathing under control, she looked up at her mentor.

"Were you able to break the seal?"

Tsunade shook her head.

"It's more complicated than I first thought. I have never seen such a seal before."

Tsunade returned to her chair and sat down.

"Sakura, did you speak to this person who is sealed in you?"

Sakura tensed, "You believe me?"

"Well, that seal on your neck means something is sealed in you. I believe you."

Sakura nodded, "Hai, I did speak to him. He told me his name."

"And that is?" Tsunade asked looking at her nervous student.

"His name is Namikaze Minato."

Inside Sakura's mind

Minato was bored. Sakura was awake, so he had no one to talk to. He was grateful that Sakura did believe him, but he knew she was concerned to have a stranger sealed in her head; someone who resembled her blonde teammate, Naruto.

Naruto.

It hurt him when he thought about his son. He yearned to find out more about his son. With what Sakura had told him, Naruto had apparently inherited Kushina's love to prank others. He also found out that his own student, Hatake Kakashi, was their sensei, or at least before Naruto and Sakura started to train under Jiraiya and Tsunade.

Minato looked around, the place around him looked a little like a training ground or something.

He had found out by accident that he could see Sakura's memories. Of course, he didn't do it after the first time. He wasn't someone who poked around in someone else's memories without permission.

However, that didn't mean he wasn't curious.

Sitting down, legs crossed on the ground, arms crossed over his chest, Minato sighed and glared down at the ground.

"Either I can sit here and do nothing, or I can risk getting Sakura-chan angry…"

Minato glanced around and took a deep breath.

One glance wouldn't hurt would it? At least he would learn more about her and probably why her team is apart and how that happened.

He would take the risk, as he had a feeling that there was something he needed to know.

**To be continued…**

So I just finished the third chapter and I'm happy to know people like this story so far and that you're willing to give me reviews.

I hope you like it and I also hope you give me a review for this chapter and I can't forget my beta reader for helping me.


	4. Chapter 4

We're Tied Together by Our Souls

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Sakura tried to focus on Tsunade. Tsunade wasn't able to break the seal on her neck; however, she didn't blame her for it. The seal was complicated for even Tsunade whose grandmother was a sealing master.

If there was something she should be worried about, it should be the face Tsunade made when she told her the name of the man who was sealed in her head, Namikaze Minato.

"What's the matter, Tsunade-sama? What did I say?"

Tsunade shook her head, trying to clear her mind.

"Well… I was just shocked to hear that name. I haven't heard that name for a very long time."

Sakura frowned, "How come?"

Tsunade sighed and looked at Sakura dead in the eye, "Because Minato Namikaze is supposed to be dead; for several years to be honest."

Sakura's eyes widened in shock. She had a dead man sealed in her head?!

"But it's impossible since he is sealed in my head. How can that be if he has been dead for a long time? Or if he is dead, how did he end up in my head?"

"Honestly, I don't know, Sakura, but apparently you have to get used to having him in your head while we try to figure out a way to get him out."

Inside Sakura's mind

Minato was walking around the training ground still trying to figure out what the training ground stood for, what meaning it had to her.

Suddenly a thick mist appeared from nowhere. Minato frowned, but stood still until the mist cleared.

Realizing he saw a memory of Sakura's, Minato saw team 7. He saw the teacher who he recognized as Kakashi, his own student, but here he was an adult and with his own team. Minato focused on the students and saw Sakura sitting in the middle of two boys, one blonde who he knew instantly was his son, Naruto, and the black haired guy who was no doubt an Uchiha.

"Now that's enough for today, go home and rest and we'll do some more training tomorrow," Kakashi said, reading his book.

"Kakashi-sensei, what exactly are we going to do tomorrow?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi didn't look up when Sakura spoke, but answered, "Well, I was planning for Sasuke and Naruto to do some sparring."

Sakura frowned, "And what am I supposed to do?"

"Well…we will have to see tomorrow, I'm certain we can find something for you to do."

Minato frowned when the memory vanished. Not even seeing what had happened next, he could figure it out, and he didn't like it. He had thought Kakashi knew better than to neglect one student for the others. That wasn't what he had tried to teach him. In a team there was something called equals and apparently Kakashi did not have that concept in his head. He had ignored Sakura for her teammates.

No wonder why Sakura had the guts to go straight up to Tsunade, the medic Sannin, to train her. She was probably fed up with their attitude against her.

Knowing that he wouldn't like next memory, Minato relaxed and soon the next memory began playing in front of him.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi didn't look up when Sakura called out to him.

"What's the matter Sakura?"

Sakura crossed her arms over her chest, looking at her supposed teacher.

"Well, Naruto and Sasuke are sparring, but what am I supposed to do while they do that?"

Kakashi shrugged, but didn't look up.

"I'm not sure. Why don't you just watch over those two so they don't overdo themselves again." With that Kakashi disappeared, leaving Sakura alone.

Sakura looked over at Naruto and Sasuke who were arguing over something but soon started to spar again. She had a sad, longing look. She wanted to be better, to be stronger, but no one wanted to help her. Who could help her?

Minato grimaced. And he thought he had been bad when he had been unable to help Rin with her medic training. Kakashi had totally ignored Sakura.

Leaning his head in one of his hands, Minato frowned. He had a lot to think about. Slowly, he started to understand Sakura.

Meanwhile

Sakura couldn't believe that Minato had been dead for several years already. Tsunade had told Sakura that she would have to get used to having Minato in hear head unless she found a way to get him out. Tsunade had promised to try to find anything which could help her, but she didn't want to give Sakura too high hopes since there had never been any situation like this before.

This, along with the paper work, made Tsunade too busy to teach her, which meant that she had to do her training alone.

_'Hey Outer, how long is this handsome blonde going be in our head?'_

_'Well hello to you too Inner, I do not know. He will probably be there for a while, why're you asking? Don't like the company?'_

_'Well…no. He is handsome to watch and he is adorable when he is thinking, you know? You should get in there and watch him, he is a freaking good looking man. That you must admit!'_

Sakura rolled her eyes, she should have known Inner would come up with such a comment with their "guest" in her head. But at least Inner wasn't able to talk with Minato, and for that she was grateful.

Who knows what Inner would tell the blonde man about her.

**To be Continued...**

Chapter four is finished, who would have thought of that? Well, I hope you like it. Inner appeared as well, hope you're happy, since a couple of you who reviewed asked about Inner. Well, she is there now and will be around and will probably put Sakura in awkward situations with Minato.

Not much to say about this chapter, it's short but I'm working on it, the chapters will be longer soon enough. This story is going to take time, I don't want to rush things, which I have a habit to do sometimes with my stories. But I can promise there will be some SakuraxMinato moments in the next chapter so please R&R and what would I do without Westwindwaker helping me?


	5. Chapter 5

We're Tied Together by Our Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 5

Minato was in a dilemma. He hadn't thought Kakashi of all people would neglect a student of his own. He knew how important it is to not neglect or leave a student behind for the two others. They are supposed to be a team. No one should be left behind, hadn't the accident with Obito taught Kakashi that?

Minato was conflicted. He wanted so badly to confront his former student, but he can't. At the same time, he wanted to talk with Sakura about these things, but didn't know how to bring it up without reopening old wounds – that was the last thing he wanted. He needed to understand why this happened to her. What reason did Kakashi have to neglect Sakura?

"Maybe I can help?"

Minato turned around and saw a look-alike Sakura, but this person had much darker hair and her eyes were a much darker green. Other than that, she looked very alike to Sakura.

"Who are you?"

The Sakura look-alike giggled and leaned against the tree behind her.

"Well you can call me Saki, I'm a part of Sakura's mind. I can tell you at least that much for now."

Minato frowned, but nodded, "All right Saki-san, can you tell me something about those memories I saw about Sakura?"

"Well… what you saw was the time when Sakura's team was still together. However, I might as well tell you their stories. Who shall we start with? Oh let's start with the emo, Sasuke Uchiha! Little brother of Itachi Uchiha who murdered the whole Uchiha clan one night and became a rogue ninja. The reason why is unknown, but Sasuke wants revenge on his older brother. When Team 7 took the Chunnin Exam, they met this creepy snake shinobi, Orochimaru or something. Anyway, Orochimaru bit Sasuke in the neck, giving him a curse mark, and promised Sasuke power if he would join him. At the third part of the Chunnin Exam, Orochimaru joined forces with the Sand Village and attacked our village. Orochimaru killed the Third Hokage. Shortly after that, the Sannin Jiraiya who had taken Naruto as his student back then, took Naruto with him and they searched for Tsunade-sama, because she was chosen to become the Fifth Hokage. Shortly after Tsunade became Hokage, Sasuke defected from the village. Sakura tried to stop him, but failed. Her second teammate, Naruto Uzumaki along with a group of her former classmates were sent by Tsunade-sama to bring Sasuke back, but they failed. Sasuke almost killed Naruto. Then we have Kakashi-sensei, our jounin sensei. However, he didn't train us equally. Either he trained Sasuke because of the Sharingan or he trained Naruto, but he never helped Sakura to become stronger. However, shortly after Sasuke left, Sakura went to Tsunade and asked her to take her on as an apprentice which she did. End of the lovely tale of team 7."

Minato frowned, he hadn't expected her to tell all of that to him so easily. Well, at least he got something that he could talk about with Sakura next time, or when she wanted to talk.

Saki looked amused and tilted her head.

"I told you I can't tell you more about me for now."

"You knew what I was thinking?"

Saki smiled, her head still tilted.

"That's secret, but don't worry, you'll find out soon enough and so will Sakura."

Saki left Minato alone with his thoughts and the information she had given him.

Meanwhile

Sakura was going through some documents, she wanted to find out who Minato Namikaze was. All Tsunade had told her was that he had been a shinobi of Konoha and that he had died 15 years ago.

She had hoped to find some information about this man but there had been none. Which was odd. The only reason she could come up with for that fact is that either Minato had been an ANBU or…

Sakura shot up in the chair, and went to look for a certain book. She found the book she was looking for and started to read.

Minato had for a short while been in the ANBU, but had stopped, went down, and became a jounin and took on a genin team. There was also something else.

Minato Namikaze was known as the Yellow Flash, and later became the Fourth Hokage!

No wonder there was no information about him, all information about the former Hokage was classified and only the current Hokage had access to it. Sakura smiled.

At least there was some benefit to being the apprentice of the Fifth Hokage; it allowed her to get to documents no one else was allowed to get their hands on.

Sakura smiled a faint smile. Tsunade knew Sakura would stop at nothing to find out about Minato and therefore she didn't stop her.

Tsunade knew she could trust Sakura with this information.

There were reasons why the information about Minato Namikaze was classified and no one else had permission to read his profile or anything about him.

Tsunade had some troubles of her own, because of this, she might be forced to call Jiraiya and Naruto back to the village. After all, Jiraiya was the teacher of Minato and a sealing master, or at least the best one Konoha has right now.

But Sakura had doubts that Jiraiya would be able to do anything about the seal on her neck. If Tsunade who had grown up with a grandmother who was a sealing master and who had taught almost everything about seals to Tsunade that she knew, there was only a small chance that Jiraiya would be able to do anything.

Sakura touched her forehead. She wasn't ready to meet Naruto just yet. She had promised herself that she would be much stronger when Naruto came back, and Tsunade had recently taught her about that seal. It would take time for her to store chakra in that seal, so right now no one could see that seal on her forehead, and that was good, at least for now.

Sakura closed her eyes, she was a bit tired and she probably needed to rest.

Before she knew it, Sakura had fallen asleep.

Minato felt when Sakura entered her mind through falling asleep. He needed to talk with her, he wanted to understand and maybe somehow help her. With what he could tell, she had done everything to find out about him ,and had also gone to Tsunade to find a way to break the seal, but had Tsunade failed.

"I see you're comfortable there."

Minato looked up and saw Sakura standing there in front of him. Her head tilted to the right, looking down at him. Her hair falling to one side.

She was a cute young shinobi, however knowing that she is training with Tsunade, he knew better than to let her looks be deceiving. Knowing how Tsunade works, he knew better than to try to piss off either Tsunade or her students.

Of course Kushina had been rather…forceful, but then again, she probably got that from her family, but she had some strength in her fists even without training with Tsunade.

And remembering how Jiraiya looked like whenever he had pissed off Tsunade, Minato knew better than to make a woman angry.

"Hello to you too, how are you doing?"

"Well, so far everything is fine. Tsunade tried to break the seal, but she had never seen anything like it before, so there is a chance that she is calling Jiraiya-sama back from his training trip with Naruto, but I'm not sure she really wants to do that, considering the situation."

"What situation?"

"There is a group called Akatsuki and they hunt down the Jinchuuriki. Jiraiya took Naruto for a training trip about three years ago to keep Naruto safe from them. And letting them come back now, the Akatsuki might try to sneak into the village once more, they did it once, but Kakashi-sensei and several other jounin stopped them."

"I see, well since you are here right now, you and I can get to know each other, I mean it would be strange not knowing who each other is right?"

"Right, that sounds all right."

Sakura sat down beside Minato and looked at the scene in front of her.

"You have questions and want answers." she stated.

Minato was surprised at how quick she was able to pick up on things.

"Well…for starters, who was that look alike of yours who was here earlier?"

Sakura sighed, "Well…to be fair, I don't know. She has been in my head all the time, I guess since childhood. I have low self-esteem because of bullies. I don't truly know who she is or why she is here. But there have been times when I have been grateful for having her in my head. For example, in the preliminaries for the second part of the Chunnin Exam, when my now best friend used a mind based jutsu to try and make me surrender, she pushed Ino out of my head and prevented her from making me give up the match."

Sakura looked at Minato take in the information and continued, "I have a question for you, and I hope you will be honest with me."

Minato nodded slowly, "Of course, just ask."

Sakura hesitated, but asked anyway, "Well…are you that Minato Namikaze who became known as the Yellow Flash and then became the Fourth Hokage?"

Minato was quiet for a short moment before answering, "You're right, I am that Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash and the Fourth Hokage who died 15 years ago. I assume that you did your research on me?"

"Of the little information that I could find, all information about you is classified, and no one but the Hokage has access to your information. However, since I am the apprentice of the Fifth Hokage, it gives me some benefits."

Minato smiled, nodding, "Of course, I shouldn't be surprised by that."

Minato hesitated but started to speak, "Sakura, may I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"What happened to your team? What made Kakashi treat you and your teammates so differently?"

"Saki showed you some of my memories?"

"Hai."

"Well, for starters, Sasuke was from the Uchiha clan and needed help training with his Sharingan, and since Kakashi had a Sharingan, he was the best one to help him. Naruto is the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, so he needed help with his chakra control, and to get some control of the chakra of the Kyuubi. Both have big chakra potential and I guess they needed more help than me. I am a student of a civil family, I have perfect chakra control, and was the smartest girl in our class, but nothing more. I don't know why Kakashi-sensei couldn't at least be bothered to help me, but after the second part of the Chunnin Exam where both Sasuke and Naruto passed to the third round while I didn't, he started to focus more on them than me. I was lost and no matter what, Kakashi-sensei didn't help me. I had nothing, until Tsunade-shishou came back to the village and became the Hokage, and accepted my request to train me so that I could move forward, not to be left behind. I hated to be left behind by my team, but I guess it was going to happen sooner or later."

Minato frowned and reached out to her. He could see that this was a sensitive subject for her. A feeling of needing to comfort her washed over Minato and he cautiously wrapped his arm around her shoulder in a comforting way. Sakura leaned towards him and let him hold her there. She sobbed, but tried to keep it in.

"It's all right, just let it out, there is no need for you to hold it all in you. Sometimes you need to let it out and have someone who you can trust see this side of you."

Sakura shook her head, but Minato figured she had no one else she could truly show this side of hers to. No one else that she could let see her emotions, and not just hide them away inside of herself, far from any onlookers. And the situation with her team must have made things worse.

Minato knew how Uchihas could be. They were hard and cold, determined to not show any emotion. For them, it's a weakness, and they had a bad habit of going around and telling everyone else that.

Minato silently decided right there and then, that no matter what, he would do his best to help out this girl. Something told him, they needed each other. To trust and to turn to each other for help.

**To be continued...**

Chapter 5 is finished, I hope you like it. Well, considering how many people are following this story, there are people who like it, but I would like it if you people would leave a review too. However, I'm happy for the reviews I have been given so far. Please R&R people, and of course my beta reader Westwindwaker, thank you for helping me, I haven't updated a story so often or so fast.


	6. Chapter 6

**We're tied together by our souls**

**Chapter 7**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto**

Minato sat patiently with Sakura, he felt sorry for the girl. It wasn't her fault that she had come from a civil family and had not the same experience as her teammate or the charka reserve as Naruto and Sasuke. He knew Naruto would have huge charka reserves, first because of Kushina had it being born in the Uzumaki clan and of course the kyuubi. Sasuke were an Uchiha and they had a lot of charka. Sakura being from a civil family had surprisingly huge charka but not as much as Naruto or Sasuke, but she had clearly perfect charka control. Kakashi hadn't seen the potential she had but Tsunade had.

And so did he

She could become a splendid shinobi with some help from someone who could see it. He would be dammed if he just let her be wasted. Minato frowned and a thought come up in his head. It might be a crazy but maybe it could help Sakura. She had probably only Tsunade who believed in her right now and Minato even if he were sealed in her head, he wanted to help her somehow and there might be a way for him to do it.

Sakura finally calmed down and they sat there under silence, Minato still holding Sakura. He felt Sakura relax and were breathing calmly. He hated to admit it, but he enjoyed sitting like this with her. Sakura moved a bit but she didn't do any move to remove herself from his embrace.

"Sakura, after you started trained with Tsunade, have Kakashi been around?"  
>Sakura shake her head. "No, I haven't seen him, and when I see him, he disappeared just as quick I find him. I guess he's been doing mission since Naruto left Jiraiya and Sasuke left the village. It hurt, knowing your jounin sensei who supposed to help and train isn't there for his students well not for everyone. He put his attention on Sasuke and Naruto. I just don't get it, why he acted like that. "<p>

Minato's jaw clenched. His disappointment towards Kakashi become much more. He hated how one of his own student who he had worked so hard to understand what is meant to be a team and still didn't get it after losing Obito, threated his student like this. He had thought Kakashi had changed when they had lost Obito, that Obito had taught him about teamwork and what is means to be comrade.

He had been wrong, and because of that, Kakashi had unintentionally broken this girl, lower her self-steam even more before she had become his student. His urge to knock some sense in his former student become much bigger. His thoughts were broken by Sakura's sighing.

"Something wrong?"

"Well… if there were something I wanted to know why Kakashi-sensei acted like he have been doing, I would want to know why he did it. Why did he threaten us so differently? Why putting more effort in training Naruto and Sasuke but not me. Sometimes I even thought maybe I wasn't good enough to become shinobi…" Sakura were to continue but Minato interrupted her.

"That's not true, it doesn't matter who you are or where you come from, everyone can become splendid shinobi, so long they are giving time enough to learn and have a good teacher. Someone who believe and support you and don't give up easily. What Kakashi did was wrong, you did nothing wrong, he approached this in the wrong way, so do me a favour and do not finish that sentence because I don't want to hear that."  
>Minato looked down at her and saw the shocked face she had and he couldn't blame her for that, if she had such thoughts in her head because of Kakashi. He loved to have a chat with his former student even more now.<p>

Sakura looked away, Minato watched her under silence. He were curious about this girl for some unknown reason. He needed to figure out why. It's not like he were in a hurry anyway, or go to other places so he had plenty of time to figure this out. Sakura briefly looked at Minato in the corner of her eyes. That Man were handsome, she would guessed he were around late twenty when he supposed "died" She didn't know why but for some reason she trusted him, she felt she could trust him by telling him about her team. That he would listen. Before she had left Tsunade, She had asked her shishou about Minato.

_**Flash back¨**_

"_Tsunade-sama, did you know Minato when he were alive?"_

"_I did, and I can assure you Sakura, Minato is a person you can depend on no matter what. He is a good person, he is a very good to listen and help people with their problems. He is good to give advances. So if you feel you can talk to him do so, Minato helped me a lot, even if he didn't realised it."_

_Tsunade said smiling remembering something. _

"_Tsunade-sama what are you going to do? Are you going to contact Jiraiya-sama?"_

_The older woman looked at her student under silence before answering her question._

"_To be fair, for now I won't. It would be no good to interrupt Naruto's training with Jiraiya now. Judging by that seal, there is no danger, however, unless something come up, and an emergency situation come I will call Jiraiya and Naruto back, but I hope that I won't need to do that. The Akatsuki have been close to Konoha, searching for Naruto, so for now it's safest for Naruto to keep going with his training with Jiraiya."_

_Sakura nodded, understanding her reasons. She wasn't ready to meet Naruto just yet. She were only half through her training._

_**Flash back end**_

Sakura watched Minato. He looked conflicted. He wasn't happy to hear what Kakashi-sensei had done but she hadn't got why he would be upset unless…

"Minato-san, were you Kakashi-sensei's teacher?"

Minato snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Sakura surprised.

"What? Oh sorry, you're right, I was his teacher I had thought I had taught him better than this, that he had learned after what happened to his teammates but perhaps I was wrong." Minato frowned which made Sakura worried.

"May I ask what happen to them? Kakashi-sensei only mentioned them once and said they were dead, killed in action"

Minato tensed but sighed

"I guess I could tell you, his teammate were Obito Uchiha and a girl called Rin. They were on a mission. It was war. Their task were to destroy a bridge but there complications. Rin were kidnapped and Obito went alone to save her. He and Kakashi never got along, Kakashi were all about rules after his father death and had told Obito that the mission come first and they could save Rin after they had done the mission. That pissed Obito off and they went on they own. Obito went to save Rin and Kakashi went to the bridge, but I think Kakashi changed his mind and went after Obito to help him to save Rin. They managed to save Rin, however they were ambushed and Rin had been hostage in a cave and one of the enemy made the cave crave in and they tried to make a run out of it but Kakashi were almost hit by a boulder but Obito pushed him away and the boulder hit him instead. Rin were killed on another mission unfortunately."

Sakura eyes widen, she hadn't expected that.

"I'm sorry to hear that, I never imagined something like that had happen. Is that why Kakashi-sensei spends so much time at the memory stone?"

Minato raised an eyebrow "He does?"

Sakura nodded "Yeah, it seems he blame himself or something. He just standing there in front of the stone for hours, so he comes several hours late for our training"

Minato closed his eyes. Kakashi had done probably more damage than right. The death of Rin and Obito seemed to affect him more than he had first thought but it doesn't justify his ignorance of helping Sakura in her training and there were things they needed to figure out. How this seal work.

Minato were a prodigy, he knew a lot of seals but had never seen such seal before, but he knew the seal had some kind of function. Maybe the seal react to their charka. In order to get some order with this, they needed to know what they had to work with. And what is the best way to find out?

By charka of course

Flying up on his feet and pulling Sakura along.

Sakura looked shocked being pulled up so fast.

"Sakura, since I probably will be here, we might as well figure out what we have to work with."

"You mean we'll figure out how the seal works?"

If Minato were surprised that Sakura figure that out, he tried to not show it.

"Right, and probably the best way to figure it out is using charka."

Sakura tilted her head a little frowned, deep in thoughts, trying to figure it out.

Minato stepped back and let go of Sakura but mentioned that she would follow. They walked a bit from the training ground till they arrived to a small lake.

"Walk on the water excise huh?"

Minato nodded

"Right, I'm not sure if I can use my charka here, but I will give a shot and try."

"Okay, then let's try"

Sakura focused her charka and carefully stepped on the water and without a problem she could walk on the water, which Minato wasn't surprised. He were however amazed with her charka control. It was indeed perfect, she wasn't losing or wasting any charka when she stood there on the water.

"Seems I can use my charka" Sakura turned to him.

"Will you give it a try?"

Minato nodded and focused. He could feel his charka and with cautious he stepped on the water and Minato found out he as well could use his charka.

Minato walked up to Sakura and smiled. Sakura chuckled.

"Well at least we know you can use you charka here."

"Well since we found out about that, I have a suggestion to you Sakura"

Sakura looked at the blonde man in front of her curious

"What?"

"Well, I was thinking, I might could help you with your training of course. I realized that the way Kakashi threated you, no one should be threated, and for that I'm sorry. I had hoped Kakashi would get through this but I can tell he haven't fully and let you suffer for it. Because of his attitude, you were forced to find someone else who could help you. And I need to fix it, so if you so wishes I can help you with your training alongside with your training with Tsunade"

Sakura were shocked. She hadn't thought he would come with that suggestion. Not that she were complaining and she were sure Tsunade wouldn't mind. She were after all the hokage and had much work to do, which meant she couldn't help Sakura every day but those day she could, she made it worth the few training days. Tsunade were strict and demanded perfections. She pushed Sakura to her limits and over the limits but at the same time she knew when it was time to end it. Tsunade were aware of Sakura's limits and did her best to help Sakura get better and stronger but she hadn't thought Minato namikaze would come with this suggestion that she would train with him, he would help her too.

Sakura smiled, she would be a fool to say no to the offer Minato come with, and she wasn't a fool. She were smarter than that. "Now that's an offer I wouldn't say no to. It would be great to have you helping me as well. It would be great!"

Minato relaxed and smiled "I am glad to hear that, Sakura and we can talk more about it later, right now I think is time for you to wake up, I can sense someone trying to wake you up from you little nap" Sakura blinked and before she knew it. She woke up.

* * *

><p>Tsunade were trying to wake Sakura up from her little nap. She had found Sakura in the office in the coach with books and rolls with information about Minato Namikaze. Tsunade smiled. Her student knew the best place to read classified information were in Tsunade's office. Tsunade smiled at the cleverness her student. Sakura knew one would dare to just barge in to the office. Only Shizune and Sakura had that right and Sakura were one of few shinobi she trusted and allowed therefor Sakura access to the information about Minato. No one else had that permission and Tsunade wanted to keep that way.<p>

Till that day Naruto was ready to find out about his parents.

But Right now Tsunade needed Sakura awake.

Sakura stirred but soon enough Sakura slowly opened her eyes. She looked around confused and then she saw Tsunade and realised where she was.

"Tsunade-sama, I'm sorry I didn't mean to fall asleep with this. I were reading this"

Tsunade laid her hand on her shoulders and smiled a gently smile.

"Don't worry Sakura it's all right."

Sakura relaxed slightly and nodded.

"So how did the meeting go?"

Tsunade waved her hand dismissing

"Boring as always, those old hags think they can control me. How does it go for you any process?"

Sakura sat up straighter and put away the scrolls and book away. "Well I accidently fall asleep and I had a nice conversation with Minato. He didn't seem too happy when he heard about Kakashi,"

"I'm not surprised at that" Tsunade said, taking her seat beside Sakura.

"What did you talk about?"

"Well…we talked about my team and Minato were curious about them and then I told him how Kakashi had treated me. And it seems my inner, Saki as she have introduced herself to Minato did show him some of my memories of team 7 and he wasn't so pleased with it and we tried to figure out how the seal worked, we tried to use our charka and so far we both can use our charka and so Minato offered me to train with him alongside with your training."

Tsunade looked at Sakura, she had a light in her eyes Sakura felt a bit worried about but said nothing.

"Really? Now that's a good idea. Maybe you will find out more how the seal work. And of course extra training won't hurt you. I can tell you now Minato is an excellent teacher. He will be a big help in your training when I'm busy with paper works and meeting."

Sakura smiled nodded happy that Tsunade approved Minato's idea and it gave her hope when Tsunade told her Minato were a great teacher. Perhaps she could become a great shinobi after all.

TBC

* * *

><p>Well chapter 7 finished hope you like it. I had some schoolwork to get finished before I could write this. Well I haven't much to say in this<p>

Chapter so please R&R and enjoy the chapter till next chapter people!


	7. Chapter 7

We're Tied Together by Our Souls

Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

_"Blabla"_ Saki speaking when Sakura is awake

_"Blabla"_ = Minato speaking when Sakura is awake

Chapter 7

Tsunade was great at keeping a poker face. No one could see through her or read her face. And for that reason, she forced herself to learn how. It was important in her job to a keep straight face. Especially right now. Hearing that Minato had access to his chakra and that he had offered to train Sakura was going to be on her mind for awhile.

You can't help but wish to be able get into other people's minds. Tsunade knows Minato is a kind man, and that probably after hearing Sakura's tale, Minato felt Sakura needed another person to help Sakura with her training.

To be honest, Tsunade was curious about how well it would go for Sakura. She was an excellent student and a quick learner, so the question is: How will Sakura be after their training?

Tsunade would make sure to find out for herself, the only thing she was certain of, was that Sakura would become one hell of a shinobi.

Tsunade took another gulp of sake and glared at the paperwork on her desk.

If only this horrible paperwork would disappear, I would be so much happier.

Tsunade put down the bottle and grabbed the pencil with her hand to continue the paperwork. She glanced at the door. She had just sent Sakura home, but knowing that girl, she is already home, preparing herself to start her training with Minato. Tsunade had a feeling this revelation about Minato would be a very interesting one. It certainly will turn Sakura's life upside down.

Sakura's POV

I finally got home from the training and studying with Tsunade. I'm grateful that Tsunade takes the time to train me even if she has all of that paperwork to do. It's no wonder why she is so pissed off sometimes.

_"Hey Sakura, when will you start training with Blondie?"_

"Saki, why are you so curious?"

_"I am just curious. You have got to admit that he is one handsome blondie. I wouldn't mind dating him. He is gorgeous."_

I rolled my eyes. Sometimes Saki could be annoying, when she started to sound like…dare I say it, like me when Sasuke was still around.

I shuddered. If there something I regretted, it was paying all of that attention to Sasuke. I mean, I am not even sure what I saw in him. Now seeing him in a new light, I can't help but be disgusted with myself. Next time I see that smug bastard, I will punch him in the face.

_"Forget that bastard, we have officially moved on from him. Now we have a blonde, gorgeous man in our head, and no one else."_

I mentally groaned and prayed that Minato didn't hear Saki, or I would die in shame.

"Go away Saki, you're giving me a headache already, and I don't need that right now."

_"That can't be good, I suggest you take something to help with your headache so that you can sleep well tonight. Believe me, going to bed with a headache is not fun._

I almost tripped on my feet after hearing another voice. Luckily, I was able to grab the table before falling.

"What the? Minato, don't scare me like that!" I swear that I could hear him chuckle at me.

_"Sorry Sakura, didn't mean to frighten you. That wasn't my purpose, I promise."_

I relaxed slightly, since he sounded honest and I felt bad for being mad; it wasn't his fault I didn't pay attention. Wait, since when have we been able to communicate like this?

"Minato how are we able to communicate like this?"

_"Hm…I'm not certain but I would guess it has something to do with the seal I think. But you can't say that this is a bad thing, right?"_

I had to agree, it was kind of nice to be able to talk with him like this, without being unconscious or sleeping to be able to talk with Minato. This was a good thing indeed. Belatedly, Sakura realized that she had talked to him like this on the night they met, she had just forgotten.

"You're right, this is nice."

_"How long are your two going to ignore me? I don't like to be ignored you know."_

I wanted to lock Saki away somewhere so much, so that I wouldn't be bothered by her.

"How come you're in my head? I've never truly known why you're in my head."

_"You know, I would love to tell you, but you're not ready yet. But when you are, I will tell you."_

"And what does that mean?"

_"I think it means that when you're mentally and psychologically ready to know, she will tell you."_

I'm not sure if I wanted to laugh or scream out in frustration...

"You do realize that you're not helping right?"

_"And here I thought I was."_

Hearing his answer just made me roll my eyes, however, I couldn't help but giggle. The way he said that made it sound rather funny.

I went to the kitchen to get something to eat. I was hungry and needed something easy to make. I am too tired to do any cooking.

_"Well, we can go and get some ramen, that's quick and easy."_

I stopped in my tracks, hearing him say ramen. It reminded me of Naruto, that blonde idiot, getting himself into trouble. Jiraiya-sama probably has his hands full with Naruto going on about his lovely ramen.

"Well, ramen it is, it has been a while since the last time I ate ramen."

I went to grab my wallet, get out of my apartment, and lock the door, and I was soon on my way. Lucky me. I briefly heard Minato and Saki saying something to each other, but I ignored them. I just hoped Saki behaved, or I might just go and die.

I walked through the streets and saw Ino, Hinata, and Tenten sitting and drinking tea together. I decided to surprise them so I hid my chakra so that they wouldn't notice me. I was just behind the corner and was about to jump out to surprise them, when I heard them say my name. I froze and decided to listen to what they had to say.

"…I can't believe Sakura is training under Tsunade-sama!" Tenten complained.

"Well…Sakura does have perfect chakra control, so maybe that's the reason why Tsunade decided to train her?" Hinata said softly, Tenten just rolled her eyes.

"Please Hinata, we all know Sakura might as well quit being a shinobi, don't you think? I mean, compared to her teammates, Sakura is weak. You have to agree with me, right Ino?"

I waited, barely breathing, waiting for what Ino, my supposed best friend would say.

I got a feeling I didn't want to know.

"Well… Sakura is a friend, it's up to her if she wants to continue, and maybe she can be a medic, but nothing else. She doesn't have it in her. You saw her at the Chunnin Exam."

I bit my lower lip and turned around, I've had enough already, and didn't want to hear anymore. I slipped out without being noticed by them, those so called 'friends' of mine.

Neither Saki or Minato said anything on the way back to the apartment.

It wasn't until I had thrown myself onto my bed that I heard Minato and Saki speak up.

_"Sakura, don't take that seriously, Tenten is just jealous. You know how much Tenten admired Tsunade-sama and is disappointed that she wasn't chosen by Tsunade-sama. And Ino, if she was your friend, she wouldn't say such things."_

_"Saki is right Sakura, you just need to prove them wrong. Sometimes, people who care hurt others without meaning it. I'm certain Ino cares for you, they just don't see your potential as we do."_

I didn't answer any of them. I was exhausted and soon enough without noticing it, I fell asleep. The last thing I knew, I felt tears on my cheek.

I opened my eyes, and saw that I was in my unconscious again, and that I wasn't alone. Minato was beside me. Or rather, he was holding me in a comforting way.

"Are you all right?" he asked. You could see the worry all over his face. I sighed and looked away. I got stuck every time I looked into his blue eyes.

"I don't know," I answered him, for some reason I was tired.

"You're tired because of the stress the situation put you through."

I looked up and saw Saki standing a few feet away from us. She was just as worried as Minato.

"What's the matter? You look like I am sick or something," Sakura tried to joke lightly.

"Well we are worried about you."

"Sakura, I'm sorry…"

I frowned, I didn't understand why she would be sorry.

"Why are you sorry?"

"Well, I think I accidentally did something which did something to the seal. So, now not only do you have your own chakra reserves, you also somehow received Minato's chakra reserves as well, kind of. He still has his chakra, but you have the same huge chakra reserves."

Oh dear god…

I was speechless, I couldn't find anything to say. I looked up at Minato who looked concerned.

"What did you do Saki?" I felt I needed to know even if the look Minato gave Saki said otherwise.

"Well…I don't think you need to know about it right now. Right now you need to rest, you fainted because of the sudden huge amount of chakra you received. Your body is not used to so much chakra, it will take some time before you will wake up from this. However, you will be able to use some of the excess chakra, but of course to get used to all of that chakra, you are going to need to be unconscious."

"I can't, Tsunade will be wondering where I am."

"Don't worry about that, we have that covered."

"How?" I asked, frowning, but then I looked back at Minato who grimaced a bit.

"Because of this, it seems I can momentarily leave your mind, but only for a short time."

I didn't know what to say. I was shocked to say the least, but I had nothing to say, so I just nodded to show them I understood.

"Good, I will be gone for a short moment to get to Tsunade and tell her what happened."

With that, Minato slowly faded and disappeared, leaving me and Saki alone.

With Tsunade

Tsunade sat still, working on her paperwork. If she was allowed to, she would burn all of the paper so that her work would be less annoying.

"I can't believe that brat wants this job," she muttered. She shivered and looked up. What she saw shocked her.

There stood the spirit of Minato.

Tsunade was shocked, and her face was pale at the sight of him.

"Minato? Is that you, or am I seeing things?" She whispered.

Minato shook his head, "No, you're not dreaming. I need you to listen to me, don't interrupt me as I don't have much time. You are aware of the second personality which resides in Sakura's mind, correct?"

Tsunade nodded.

"Well, I'm not sure what she did, but whatever she did, affected the seal. Now, Sakura has just as huge of a chakra reserve as I did when I was alive. I still have my chakra, but it seems that Sakura can use it. However, because of the sudden change in her chakra, Sakura is unconscious in her apartment right now and will be out cold for a couple of days. And let's keep this as a secret, there is not one good thing that would happen if this comes out that I am sealed in Sakura's mind."

Tsunade frowned but nodded, "All right, I will go and check up on her myself, don't you worry. This will be out secret."

"Thank you." With that, Minato was gone.

Tsunade leaned back in her chair. "I need more sake," she muttered.

She lifted the bottle to her mouth and gulped several gulps of sake, and then slammed the bottle down on the desk. Getting up from the chair, Tsunade headed out from the office, she needed to make sure that Sakura was all right. She trusted Minato, even if he was just a spirit right now. She knew him, almost as much as Jiraiya did.

Jiraiya. Tsunade stopped in her tracks. How would she be able to keep this from him? Minato wanted this to be kept a secret for Sakura's sake. However, Jiraiya was Minato's teacher, so keeping this from him would be difficult, but it would be needed to keep her student safe.

That was all that mattered to her right now.

Tsunade arrived to the apartment where Sakura lived. Because they had grown close together, Tsunade had a key to her apartment. Sakura was like a daughter to her. She needed to know she was safe. Tsunade unlocked the door and walked in. She saw Sakura lying on the bed, unconscious.

Tsunade walked up to the bed, and sat down beside Sakura. Tsunade laid her hand on Sakura's forehead. Tsunade frowned, Sakura's chakra was growing.

Minato was right, her chakra reserves are getting higher. With as fast as the charka is growing, she will have at least the chakra reserves of a jounin.

Tsunade looked down at her student, and moved some hair away from her face. Sakura was sound asleep. There were no indications that she had fainted or anything else.

No matter, now knowing and have seen Minato, Tsunade knew this couldn't get out to anyone, not even the council. If Danzo found out…

Tsunade shuddered. She refused to let that old bastard get Sakura.

Tsunade stood up, she needed to get two ANBU to guard Sakura.

"Cat! Hawk!"

Two ANBU appeared behind Tsunade, kneeling.

"Yes Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade turned around and looked at the ANBU, her eyes narrowed.

"I need you two to guard Sakura until she wakes up. I will come every day and check up on her, however, you're not to let anyone else but ME in here. And when I mean anyone, I mean friends, family, and no one from the council. If you let anyone else in other than me, you will find yourself losing your position in ANBU. Got it?"

"Hai!"

Tsunade nodded.

"Good, I expect nothing else from you other than that you do as you have been told. It doesn't matter who tries to come in here, no one but me is allowed in."

The ANBU nodded which calmed Tsunade.

"Good, I'll be back later tonight to check up on her, so watch over her."

Tsunade smiled and left the apartment. She knew that those two will do as they have been told. They reported directly to her. They were only allowed to take orders from her.

With that done, Tsunade returned to her office to continue her cursed paperwork.

In Sakura's mind

Sakura opened her eyes; she was tired. Saki was sitting with her. They were waiting for Minato to come back. They didn't need to wait for long. Minato appeared beside Sakura. He seemed to be tired as well. Sakura turned her head to him and smiled a weak smile.

"Welcome back," she whispered.

Minato smiled back, "Thank you. You seem to be tired as well."

"You don't say? You should look at yourself in a mirror, you look a bit tired as well."

Saki chuckled, shaking her head at them, "You two should rest, you both are exhausted and need all of the rest you can get. This will be rather annoying for you for a while. You won't be able to do so much for now."

"Well, at least I am not alone in this," Sakura said, closing her eyes.

Minato smiled, and reached out and touched her shoulder.

"You'll never be alone Sakura."

**To Be Continued...**

Well what do you know? I have written two chapters on the same day, it's a new record for me. I never write this fast. This story is getting to me I think, because I actually like a story I have written. This has grown on me. Well, I hope you like it, and please leave a review people, your reviews inspire me to write more. See you next time, people!


	8. Chapter 8

We're Tied Together by our Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 8

Sakura opened her eyes slowly. Looking around, she realized that she was still unconscious because she was with Saki and Minato. Saki was sitting under a tree a few feet away from Sakura. Minato was sleeping beside Sakura. Sakura could only guess that the little trip he had done to visit Tsunade had worn him out.

"I see you're awake, at least enough to talk with you."

Sakura looked over to Saki who for some strange reason, looked pale, and almost sick as well.

"Are you all right? You don't look so well."

Saki smiled weakly, shaking her head.

"You should look after yourself, Sakura. I'll be all right, don't worry. After all I am a part of you, remember?"

Sakura glanced briefly over to Minato who was still sleeping.

"He will be all right as well. This was something we just didn't expect, so don't panic."

Sakura grimaced but said nothing. She glanced at the young man who was sleeping. She hadn't thought that Minato would be affected by this. It seemed a bit unfair that Minato was affected by this. Sitting up slowly, Sakura watched Saki, she needed to know something.

"Saki, what did you do to make something like this happen to me?"

Saki looked hesitant, trying to find the right words. Sakura was determined to get her to speak.

"I do have a right to know since this is my mind, right?" Sakura pressed.

Saki sighed and walked over to Sakura and sat down beside her. "Sakura, please understand, we have no idea how this will affect your life from now on, but I will tell you. When you got upset, I wanted you to calm down and there are other things you need to know about me. I will only be here until you don't need me, you can say, I'm like a kekkei genkai. Are you aware that you are from the Haruno Clan?"

Sakura frowned, confusion written all over her face.

"I thought my family was a civil family?"

Saki shook her head. "Well, your so called 'parents' are civil, but your real parents are dead. I'm sorry. The Haruno Clan were close friends of the Uzumaki clan. Those two you have been living with, are your aunt and uncle, but they didn't say anything because they weren't on good terms with your parents, and decided to raise you as a civil child. They didn't want you become a shinobi because of your family. Your family were skilled shinobi, but they were gifted with a gift. Your gift is that you are able to see visions of the future, but because of your aunt, your gift was sealed, and took the form of me. I'm not sure why though."

Sakura didn't know how to feel. She was shocked to say the least.

"How does that work? Where is the rest of my family?"

Saki shook her head silently.

"I'm sorry, the family was scattered, but that's all I know, and I know this affected me. Soon enough I will disappear, and when that happens, you'll start getting visions of the future, however be aware, your gift is wanted by many rogue shinobi, so you need be on your guard whenever you're outside the village, and do not mention this to your aunt or uncle. I don't trust them, and neither should you."

Sakura nodded.

"However, I will have no regrets since you'll have Minato here to keep you company."

Sakura narrowed her eyes, glaring at Saki.

"Oh come on, you know that's the truth." Saki said, a smile on her lips.

Sakura sighed and shook her head.

"You can be so annoying sometimes, you know that right?"

Saki smiled knowingly.

"By the way, does Minato know about this?"

Saki sighed, apparently she had been waiting for that question for a while.

"I'm not sure, Sakura. I can't tell if he knows or not. I haven't told him anything yet, but I guess we have to. He needs to know as well. After all, you're going to spend a lot of time together from now on."

Suddenly, a groan was heard. Saki and Sakura looked at Minato who was slowly waking up from his slumber.

"Good afternoon, did you have a nice nap?"

Minato sat up, shaking his head, trying to get the sleep out of him.

"Well, it was needed. Did you have a nice sleep?"

"Yeah, I will be fine."

Saki moved slightly in unease. She looked nervous and Minato noticed it.

"What's the matter? Has something happened?"

Sakura glanced at Saki who avoided looking at Minato. Sakura rolled her eyes. Saki should have known better, you can't hide anything from a former Hokage.

Minato frowned and looked at Sakura, probably hoping she would tell him.

"We just had a nice little chat about Saki."

Minato looked back at Saki, "I see. Well, may I ask? I'm curious."

Saki sighed, and Sakura snorted, a smile on her lips. Of course Minato saw and heard her snorting.

"What's so funny?" Minato asked, amused by her reactions.

"Oh nothing, Saki thought she might be able to avoid telling you something interesting."

Saki glared at her.

"What? Just being honest." Sakura said grinning.

Minato shook his head.

Saki shook her head, annoyed at Sakura, but turned to Minato and decided to let him know what they had been talking about, explaining everything that she had just said to Sakura.

Minato crossed his arms over his chest, frowning.

"How come Sakura ended up with her aunt and uncle then? There must have been someone else in her family who could raise Sakura."

Saki shook her head. "Some were killed and those who were left, went into hiding, not wanting to be found. They were afraid to be found by certain people, and because some lived in Konoha, her aunt and uncle were the best option, even if most were against it. Living with two civil people helped to keep Sakura safe, but as to why they sealed her gift, I have no idea."

"What kind of people were after my family?" Sakura frowned.

Saki grimaced.

Sakura got a bad feeling and closed her eyes.

"Tell me."

"The Uchiha Clan."

Sakura groaned and Minato was taken by surprise.

"Are you serious? The Uchiha Clan?"

Saki sighed, "It started way back in the First Hokage's reign. It was actually Madara Uchiha who found out about the Haruno Clan's gift before he left the village. He wanted the secrets of their gift, but the Haruno stood under the protection of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama. Hashirama refused to let Madara get to the Haruno clan. Hashirama was a kind man and never once forced the Haruno clan to use their gift if they didn't want to."

"They did anyways."

Saki nodded. "They were grateful to Hashirama, and wanted to be helpful to the village, but then Madara found out more about their gifts."

Sakura moved slightly, this conversation had turned into a history lesson.

"So what happened? What made the Haruno Clan leave Konoha?"

"No one knows why. Not even your aunt or uncle do. I guess that they all felt threatened by Madara, and wanted to be safe. Thanks to their gifts, they knew Madara hadn't been killed. Shortly after Sarutobi became the Hokage, the remaining Haruno let your uncle and aunt stay in Konoha. Your parents shortly came back to Konoha and left you with your aunt and uncle."

Sakura frowned, "How come you know all of this?"

Saki looked tired, rubbing her forehead, "I don't know. I guess it's because I am a part of you who is aware of your gift. I am not sure though."

Sakura nodded, and let the information Saki had given her sink in.

Meanwhile

Tsunade was back in her office. Day two had gone by since Sakura had passed out. She was working on some paperwork when Danzo walked in.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes, glaring at him.

"Haven't you heard about knocking, Danzo?"

Danzo ignored her remark.

"Where is your little student? That girl? I haven't seen her around your office as of late."

Tsunade didn't flinch, nor did she move.

"Why are you concerned about my student, Danzo?"

Danzo didn't even flinch when she asked that.

"Well, am I just merely curious, since she is usually around you, but why isn't she right now?"

Tsunade didn't trust that old man. He had something in mind, and she was determined to figure it out.

"I ask once more Danzo, why are you concerned about my student?"  
>Danzo frowned, but said nothing, he just turned around and left the office.<p>

I don't like this at all.

Tsunade stood up and went to leave the office. She needed to check up on Sakura.

Suddenly, the door flew open and a woman with dark brown hair and a man with grey hair walked in.

"Tsunade-sama where is Sakura? Where is my daughter?!"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"Is that the way to talk to the Hokage?" Tsunade asked, her eyes narrowed.

The woman scoffed.

"Well, don't go thinking you'll get anything better, you took my daughter from me, and you made her a killer."

Tsunade slammed her fist down onto her desk.

"Sakura chose this life to become a shinobi, I didn't force her to do anything. I taught her to become stronger and an independent woman, I have supported her more than you two have ever since she graduated from the academy."

The woman backed away slightly, seeing Tsunade almost breaking the desk with her fist. However the man didn't.

"We didn't want our daughter to become a killer, we never wanted her to go into the academy for shinobi. We wanted her to grow up as a civil person, but she refused. Sakura doesn't know the danger tof being a shinobi!"

"Sakura is more than aware of what danger there is in the shinobi world, and is determined to get stronger to protect her village and the people she loves. I don't understand why you don't understand that?"

The two said nothing and left the office, the door closing after them.

Tsunade leaned against the almost broken desk.

"What's wrong with those two?"

**To be continued...**

A shorter chapter, but I hope you like it. Now there is a lot going on here, right? What does Danzo want? What's with Sakura's "parents"? Why do they not want her to be a shinobi? Well people, you will have to wait and see. I want to say thank you to westwindwaker for helping me, and also GoddessOFDeaths for coming up with ideas for the story.

Please R&R people, and we'll see each other in next chapter, Bye!


	9. Chapter 9

We're Tied Together by Our Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

_"Blabla" _Saki speaking when Sakura is awake

_"Blabla"_ = Minato speaking when Sakura is awake

Chapter 9

Sakura stirred, she had fallen asleep once again. Sakura looked up, even though her sight was blurred, she saw something yellow which she immediately connected to Minato. She had fallen asleep against his shoulder. When she looked up, Minato looked down at her.

"You seem to be having nap time regularly." Minato joked, chuckling. Sakura growled at him, but shook her head when he just chuckled even more.

"Aw…are you mad now?"

Sakura muttered something under her breath when Saki appeared, just as pale as earlier.

"What are you two doing?" Saki asked, looking suspiciously at them.

Minato looked at her innocently, "We did nothing, Sakura here just woke up."

Sakura pouted, making Saki shake her head.

"Well then. Sakura, it seems you should wake up soon because that would make Tsunade-sama calm. She seemed a bit stressed when she last checked up on you."

Sakura nodded. So many things had happened to her recently. Finding a man sealed in her head, and then finding out her Inner was a sealed gift she had since she was born. Her parents weren't her real parents, instead they were her uncle and aunt. She didn't know what to believe after this. Briefly, she wondered how Naruto would react if he knew about this, but then again, it would be better if he didn't. Sakura closed her eyes and the last thing she saw was Saki and Minato talking about something.

Tsunade had just checked on Sakura when she heard Sakura move in the bed. Tsunade didn't move from her place on the bed.

Sakura stirred and slowly she opened her eyes. Her emerald eyes locked on Tsunade.

"Shishou?" She asked, her voice quiet.

"I am here Sakura, relax. Take your time before you get up. We don't want you to faint again."

"Hai, Shishou."

Sakura sat up slowly in the bed. She looked around, and then she looked back at Tsunade.

"How long was I out?"

"You were unconscious for two days Sakura."

Sakura frowned. "It didn't feel like two days when I was with Minato and Inner."

"Sakura, your parents were at my office again." Tsunade said, interrupting her thoughts.

Sakura looked up at her teacher.

"What did they want now?"

Tsunade smiled, "The usual, they accused me of taking you away from them, and that I had made you a monster or something."

Sakura gritted her teeth. Now they had gone too far.

"I'm sorry Shishou, I will go and talk with them and hopefully they will stop busting into your office and disturbing you while you're working."

Tsunade frowned, "Are you sure Sakura, they seemed to be very angry, are you sure you want to meet them alone?"

Sakura nodded, "I am sure Tsunade, they won't do anything, they wouldn't dare try."

Tsunade sighed, but nodded.

"Fine, but if something happens and the situation gets out of your hands, get out of there and come to me. Got it?"

Sakura nodded, "I understand, I will be careful. I'm going to take a shower now, I will go and see you after I have seen them."

Tsunade got up and messed with Sakura's hair.

"See you later."

"Hey!" Sakura grouched, trying to fix her hair after Tsunade messed with it.

Tsunade left laughing, leaving Sakura alone.

Sakura heard the door close, so she went to the shower. She needed to get refreshed before she confronted her so called 'parents'.

There were things she needed to know: she needed to know why they were against her being a shinobi, and why her real parents had left her with them.

An hour later, Sakura was ready to confront her parents. She was pissed off. Not only had they pissed her off, they had to make a scene in front of Tsunade.

She locked her apartment and was soon on her way. It didn't even take ten minutes until she arrived to her parents' home.

She didn't bother to knock, since they hadn't done that for Tsunade.

She might pay them back, letting them know how it feels when someone just walks in and interrupts.

Walking in, Sakura saw them sitting in the kitchen. Soon enough, both looked up, having heard Sakura enter.

"Well, I thought we had raised you to knock before entering a house." Her mother Mari said.

Sakura crossed her arms over her chest.

"That's hilarious coming from your mouth, you did the same thing with Tsunade-sama, who you should have some respect for, but your actions proved otherwise earlier. I heard you two gave Tsunade-sama a visit."

Mari threw her hands up in the air.

"So?! That woman has trained my daughter to be a killer, a monster!"

Sakura slammed down her fist on the table, glaring at Mari.

"Well, at least Tsunade-sama has supported my choice of how I live my life! You on the other hand, have not. You have tried several times to get me to quit, but this is my life! I won't live my life as you want. And let's make one thing clear, at least Tsunade-sama is honest with me, unlike how the two of you are!"

The man, who was supposed to be her father, Takeshi, walked up to Mari and looked at Sakura with narrowed eyes.

"And what do you mean by that?! Also, show some respect to your mother!"

Sakura was slowly losing her temper, "I? Show some respect?! You two didn't even show any respect to the Hokage, don't you dare come and scold me to show some respect to you! You don't even deserve it. You have been lying to me all this time haven't you?! You're not my real parents, you're my uncle and aunt!"

Mari lost all of the color in her face.

"How did you find out?"

Sakura had to concentrate on her breathing.

"How I found out is not important, I want to know why you have been lying to me all this time."

Mari stood up, her eyes wide.

Sakura got a weird feeling.

"The seal." Mari whispered. She turned to Takeshi who still had that wild look on his face.

"The seal must have broken or is almost broken."

Takeshi narrowed his eyes, "How? That man promised that the seal would keep her gift from appearing."

Sakura tensed, something was wrong here.

"Which man?" she asked, but neither of them answered her. They only looked at each other.

"Hello? Are you going to tell me the truth or what? What happened to my real parents?"

Mari turned back to her, her eyes narrowed ,and she had a dark look over her face. Sakura took a step backwards.

"We can't let her find out, Mari, we must take her to that man and fix the seal."

Mari nodded, and smiled a wicked smile.

_"Sakura, get out of there!"_

Sakura moved backwards as Mari jumped forward, trying to grab her, and dodged her aunt. Takeshi came after her also, but failed to grab her. Sakura made a run for it towards the door and got out. Using her chakra, Sakura jumped up on a roof to get some distance between her and those two.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Mari take after her, trying to catch up with her.

"I thought they were civil, not trained enough to keep up with a shinobi."

_"I don't know, whoever that man is, he probably taught them one or two things. Keep moving, you're almost at the Hokage Tower."_

Sakura entered the Hokage Tower and hurried to Tsunade's office. Sakura slowed down a bit when she realized Mari and Takeshi hadn't followed her inside. With raspy breathing, Sakura knocked on the door to Tsunade's office. She heard Tsunade answer and walked in to her Shishou.

Tsunade looked up from her paperwork and saw Sakura.

"Sakura, what's the matter?"

Sakura sat down, trying to calm down.

"Something weird is going on, Tsunade-sama. This all started with Saki telling me that my parents aren't my real parents, and are instead my uncle and aunt. And when I confronted them about it earlier, Mari mentioned that the seal was almost broken, and "that man" had promised it would keep my so called gift sealed. Then they started trying to catch me."

"What?!"

Tsunade stood up looking worried. She called out to an ANBU who landed beside the desk, kneeling.

"Find Mari and Takeshi Haruno and take them in for a hearing. Send for Inouchi Yamanaka and tell him to get here as soon as possible.

The ANBU was gone before Sakura could blink, and Tsunade signed for her to take a seat. Sakura sat down, trying to calm down. Tsunade sat down beside her on the coach, her hand resting on her shoulder.

"It's all right Sakura. Everything will be all right."

They were interrupted by someone knocking on the door.

"Enter." Tsunade answered the knocking and in came Inouchi Yamanaka. He looked concerned.

"You wished to see me Tsunade-sama?"

"I have a job for you, I want you to find information from Sakura's parents. Apparently there are things that don't add up, and they tried to take Sakura by force only moments ago. I have ordered ANBU to get both of them so you can interrogate them. They have been in contact with someone who has sealed an ability of Sakura's and we need to get it confirmed."

Inouchi nodded and left to interrogate the couple, who Sakura had thought of as her parents. Who would lie to a child like this?

_"Well… I can tell they won't be able to hide anything from Inouchi."_

_"Well, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't dare to lie to that Ibiki guy, he is kind of scary."_

_"What? Is Ibiki also going to interrogate them?"_

_"You didn't know?"_

_"NO!"_

_"Well poor you. I feel bad for you."_

_"I heard the sarcasm in your voice."_

_"You don't say? And here I thought you didn't know about sarcasm."_

_"What makes you say that?"_

"Well, I can say plenty of things, but I think I will spare Sakura since she can hear this conversation."

_"No, you just made me curious, you better tell me some things."_

_"Don't think I don't want to, I'm afraid for the life I have left. __If I tell Sakura, she might kill me."_

_"What would she know about it?"_

_"Well, nothing, but she would probably get embarrassed if I told you things."_

"What are you two talking about?"

_"Hey Minato, did you hear that? Sakura decided to join our conversation!"_

_"That's nice of you Sakura, would you mind telling me what she is not telling me?"_

"Minato, I don't know what she knows and hasn't told you."

_"Ha! Told you, didn't I, Minato?"_

_"Doesn't mean I couldn't try."_

"Well…don't drag me into your conversation, I have nothing to do with it."

_"Yes you do, Sakura."_

_"Minato!"_

_"What?"_

_"How did you think that would go? Did you honestly think that you would be able to keep her in our conservation? Cause I didn't think so. Sakura is a smart girl and knows which conversations she shouldn't join in on."_

_"Well at least she is smarter than you."_

_"What was that Blondie?"_

"Are you two going to argue with each other because I do not want be a part of your arguments?"

_"Aw…she doesn't love us anymore Saki..."_

"Hey!"

Sakura rubbed her forehead. Those two were getting on her nerves with their argument. Tsunade noticed her annoyance.

"Are they giving you headache?"

"They are arguing about something I don't know about." Sakura said sighing.

Tsunade smiled, "They must be a handful to have in your head."

"HEY!"

_"HEY! WE HEARD THAT TSUNADE!"_

Tsunade stood up and walked towards the door.

"Shall we go and see what your family has to say?"

"Let's go." Sakura got up and walked after Tsunade out of the office. It was time to find out the truth from her so called parents.

**To be continued**

Chapter 9 is finished. To think that I have written nine chapters already. Well, I hope you like it. Now, I wonder if anyone can guess who that 'man' is. You probably can figure it out who it is. Please R&R people. Once again, Westwindwaker helped me.


	10. Chapter 10

We're Tied Together by Our Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

_"Blabla"_ Saki speaking when Sakura is awake

_"Blabla"_ Minato speaking when Sakura is awake

Chapter 10

Sakura and Tsunade went to the interrogation department where Inouchi and Ibiki were interrogating Sakura's parents. Sakura and Tsunade needed answers, and Sakura's 'parents' would give them answers.

Sakura was getting a headache, and you didn't need to be a genius to see who gave it to her.

Minato and Saki were still arguing, however, at least what they were arguing about was kind of amusing.

Nicknames.

They were arguing about nicknames for each other, which was amusing, seeing that Minato was around his late twenties, and hearing him argue with Saki about what kinds of nicknames they should have for each other was rather childish.

Anyways, while those two were having their arguments, she had other things to do.

They arrived and saw Inouchi coming out from a room.

"Tsunade-sama, I was about to meet up with you. We are about to start the interrogation with the two now. If you want to see the interrogation, you can go in here, they won't see or hear you in here." Inouchi opened a door and let them go in. Sakura saw her parents sitting in two chairs. Ibiki was there with them, staring them down with his cold, hard calculating look.

Usually civil people were afraid of him, but neither Mari nor Takeshi showed any fear which was weird.

"Something is definitely going on here. They should be terrified right now, but they have yet to show fear, just like trained shinobi." Inouchi said, frowning. He looked at Sakura, "You sure those two haven't been shinobi?"

"Not that I know of, however, I wouldn't be surprised if they were. I wouldn't put it behind them if they were or still are. They had lied to me my whole life in pretending to be my parents, so I wouldn't be so surprised." Sakura said bitterly.

She glared at them through the window.

"Why are we here? I demand that you release us, we have done nothing wrong!"

"You're wrong there, miss Mari, unfortunately for you. You and your husband, have been lying not only to your so called daughter, but also to the Hokage. You also have none of the respect which you should have. The way you acted in front of the Hokage can cost you a trip to the prison you know. Now let's get started. Mari Haruno, is Sakura Haruno your biological daughter?"

"H-hai..."

Ibiki narrowed his eyes, walking slowly around Mari, his eyes never leaving her.

Suddenly, he moved his hand and Mari whimpered, moaning in pain. Ibiki stopped, and she gasped for air.

"Let's try again, is Sakura your daughter?"

"No." she whimpered.

"Is Takeshi her father?"

Mari shook her head quickly.

"Who are her parents?"

"Her mother was my sister, but neither she nor her husband are alive…"

"How did they die?"

Mari shut her eyes tight, refusing to speak, but one move from Ibiki made her scream in pain again.

Ibiki turned to Takeshi and smirked.

"Maybe you will tell me the answer of that question?"

Takeshi glared at Ibiki, but just like he had done to Mari, Ibiki used his interrogation jutsu on him as well.

He gasped in pain, but refused to scream. However, Ibiki was more stubborn than him.

"Stop…I will tell…we killed them…"

"Why?"

"Because of Sakura's gift. We thought we could use her gift for our own benefit, but we wrong and so we got her gift sealed."

"Who sealed her gift?"

Takeshi shook his head.

"I can't tell you, he will kill us. We promised to hand Sakura over to him once her training with Tsunade was finished."

"Oh, one of you will tell me who it is, I have all time in the world, for I am a patient man." Ibiki grinned an evil grin.

Sakura decided that she had seen enough, she didn't want to see this for any longer.

Tsunade turned to Inouchi, "Report when you find out who sealed away her gift, got it?"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade followed Sakura out, she had a feeling Sakura needed her right now.

Tsunade found Sakura sitting on a bench outside. The sun was shining brightly on the blue, cloud free sky.

"Sakura, how are you doing?" Tsunade asked once she had sat down beside her apprentice.

Sakura sighed, "I don't know. I mean, those two have been lying to me all my life. They killed my real parents. I feel so lost."

Tsunade wrapped an arm around her shoulders and held her tightly against her body.

"You're not alone, I'll be here with you. You are like a daughter to me and I won't let them hurt you anymore."

Sakura looked up at Tsunade, nodding, "Thank you, Tsunade-sama."

_"Well, you can at least let me out of here so I can kick their asses for you."_

_"Now Saki, you should calm down, there is no need for you throwing a fit. That's the last thing Sakura needs right now."_

_"Well Blondie, you must admit that you also want to kick their asses for her, come on you must admit that!"_

"How long are you two going to argue?"

_"Aw… Sakura don't be so mean, we care about your well being, isn't that enough?"_

"Don't say such things Saki."

Sakura rolled her eyes, Saki could be so childish sometimes. However, Tsunade brought her out of her thoughts.

"Come on Sakura, let's get something to eat, you need something else to think about." Tsunade stood up and pulled Sakura with her.

They went to a sushi bar and got something to eat. Tsunade knew how to get Sakura to think about other thoughts. They discussed and planned for their next training session.

And of course, Saki and Minato decided to join that discussion.

_"So Blondie, now that Sakura is all right, awake and all, you will start working with her, right? With her training and all?"_

_"I was thinking about that, I just wanted to hear what Tsunade had planned for her."_

Sakura was about to take another bite of sushi when Inouchi arrived and walked up to their table.

"Tsunade-sama. Sakura. I'm sorry for disturbing you in the middle of lunch, but we managed to get them to reveal who sealed Sakura's gift."

Tsunade frowned and stood up. She put down some money on the table.

"Let's take this discussion to my office. Come on, Sakura."

Sakura and Inouchi followed Tsunade back to her office. Sakura had a bad feeling about this. Whoever had sealed her gift when she was younger, was probably in Konoha. It would be someone who has knowledge about her family, but who would even have that knowledge?

_"Let's make a bet, I bet it's someone in the council."_

_"What makes you say that?"_

_"Because they are a group of annoying bastards, especially those two older hags and that Danzo guy. I get the creeps just seeing him."_

Now that was something that Sakura could agree with her on.

They came to the office and Tsunade took her seat behind the desk and Sakura stood by the window, waiting for Inouchi to reveal what they had gotten from those two.

"Tsunade-sama, I want to ensure you that we double checked the information they gave us. I went into their minds and saw the memory of the event and saw the man who sealed away Sakura's gift when she was younger, I would guess she was around three years old.

"Who was it?"

Inouchi met Tsunade's eyes.

"It was Danzo."

Sakura froze, hearing the name of the man who she and Tsunade disliked just as much.

"Are you certain, Inouchi?" Tsunade asked with her eyes narrowed.

"Hai."

Tsunade leaned back in her chair.

"You're dismissed, Inouchi. Thank you, tell Ibiki to keep those two."

"Are we going to find out more? Like if they had revealed any information related to the village?"

"You're going to find out if they have in anyway betrayed this village, and if they have, there will be consequences for them."

Inouchi nodded and left the two women alone in the office.

Sakura leaned against the wall behind her, as she looked out through the window.

"Sakura?"

Sakura looked over to Tsunade who had a concerned look on her face.

"Are you all right?"

Sakura crossed her arms over her chest.

"I don't know, I am confused. I thought they were my parents, and now I am finding out that they aren't, and that they killed my real parents and let Danzo seal my gift. They were planning to let him use me?! I'm not sure what I should be feeling, Shishou!"

Sakura walked to the coach and sat down. She looked at Tsunade.

"What now? What will happen now? I mean, Danzo wouldn't admit to this crime just like that."

"No, you are right Sakura, and to be honest, there is something troublesome. Danzo was here yesterday, asking about you. Which is strange, why would he care about you unless he was concerned that he would lose your gift."

"But why seal it?"

"It's probably because your aunt and uncle weren't able to use your gift for their own benefit, and to make sure Sarutobi-sensei wouldn't notice your gift, he sealed it. Knowing Sarutobi-sensei, he would stop Danzo from getting to you no matter what. Sarutobi knew better than to let a child with a kekkei genkai be handed over to Danzo who uses children and brainwashes them and makes them into weapons."

Sakura nodded, she somewhat understood that. But it didn't help her now.

_"I knew that bastard would be causing trouble, I hate that creepy man. You better be on your guard from now on, Sakura."_

_"I think she knows that."_

_"Oh? Someone sounds bitter, care to share what's troubling you?"_

_"Nothing"_

_"Sakura, you better come in here and have a chat with this Blondie, he sounds rather bitter."_

"Saki, how about you let him be for now, if he wants to talk he will do that when he is ready, so stop pushing him. It doesn't help him, you know."

_"Thank you Sakura."_

Sakura glanced up and saw Tsunade coming towards her.

"Sakura, what do you say we get some of this stress out of our system? Let's go to the training grounds, I think you need to release some of that frustration you have right now."

Sakura nodded and got up from the coach. Together they left the office and headed towards the training grounds.

Meanwhile

Danzo glared at the report, Mari and Takeshi had failed him. They had been revealed to the Hokage, and now he was sure Tsunade would watch every single move he did.

"Damn them, I should have taken the girl when she was younger while I still had the chance. Now it's going to be harder to get her gift. But it doesn't matter, I will get my hands on her, I don't care who I have to take care of in order to get her gift, I will have her in ROOT.

**To be continued**

Chapter ten is finished. I hope you like it. Now did anyone guess that it was Danzo? But then again, I think it wasn't that hard to figure out. Minato doesn't seem so happy, wonder what's going on his mind, more about that in the next chapter, I promise you that. So R&R people. You'll get the next chapter soon.

Westwindwaker helped me with the story, and GoddessOFDeaths helped me with ideas for the story.


	11. Chapter 11

We're Tied Together by Our Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

_"Blabla" _Saki speaking when Sakura is awake

_**"Blabla"**_= Minato speaking when Sakura is awake

Chapter 11

Minato was sitting under a tree thinking. The event with Sakura and her parents made him think back to the night when that masked man attacked the village, and when he released the Kyuubi from its prison, Kushina.

That night has been haunting him ever since. It felt like it was his fault, he shouldn't have let down his guard when Naruto had been born. He should have had more guards to keep Kushina and Naruto safe, but he didn't, and they paid the price. Kushina was almost crushed by the Kyuubi, but he had managed to get to her in time. However, she was weak after the Kyuubi had been set free from her. If it hadn't been for her being an Uzumaki, she would have died instantly. If he had been able to stop that masked man, maybe he could have found another way to stop the Kyuubi. Kushina wouldn't have had to die, and Naruto wouldn't have become the new Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi and have been mistreated by the village.

He had seen through Sakura's memories how the village had looked at Naruto whenever they were together.

It was his fault that Naruto had been treated so badly by the village. He had hoped that the village would see him as a hero, but Minato had been naive. He should have known better. He knew how Kushina had been treated, but she had just ignored the village, but even Kushina had her limits. She had taken out her frustration of the villagers' treatments by playing pranks and beating the crap out of guys who pissed her off.

Naruto, however, had just learned to ignore the hateful stares.

But Minato knew that Naruto had suffered. He had no one, only Sarutobi came and checked up on him, and even if he didn't show himself, Minato was sure that Kakashi had looked after Naruto from the shadows, doing his best to keep Naruto safe.

Minato knew Kakashi probably took his and Kushina's deaths hard. They had become like a family and after first losing Obito and Rin, Minato feared his and Kushina's death brought Kakashi to his limits.

Minato hated himself for letting his student and son suffer.

Saki was sitting a bit away from him, studying him. She knew something was troubling him and she had hoped that Sakura would come here and try to get him to talk about it. Whatever it is that is troubling him must be big.

Suddenly, Saki felt a presence beside her. Looking up, she saw Sakura standing there also watching Minato.

"What's wrong with him?"

Saki shrugged "I don't know, he doesn't want to speak with me about it, so I thought maybe you could get him to speak. I can leave you alone for awhile while you speak. Maybe you can get him to open himself up to you."

Sakura nodded, "I will try Saki, but don't expect anything."

Saki nodded and left Sakura alone. Sighing, Sakura walked up to Minato and sat down beside him.

"Hey, how are you?"

Minato snapped out of his thoughts and saw Sakura looking at him concernedly.

He tried to smile, but by the expression Sakura had, it didn't fool her.

"Nothing, this situation just reminded me of something. It got me thinking about the past."

"Something is troubling you." Sakura stated.

Minato didn't look at her, making her frown.

"You know, it does no good to keep it all inside, you know? Sometimes it's better to talk with someone who will listen. And if you want to talk, I'll be there and listen."

Minato looked shocked, but grateful. Sakura leaned against the tree and closed her eyes. Everything was so quiet around them, Sakura almost fell asleep when Minato spoke up.

"Do you know about that night, the 10th of October, fifteen years ago?"

Sakura nodded slightly, not wanting interrupt him.

"That is the night I became a father, but also lost everything because of one man. My wife was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, and she would give birth to our son that night. We were forced to take some cautions so that seal wouldn't break and the Kyuubi escape. Shortly after Kushina had given birth, a man with a mask attacked us; he had taken our son as a hostage and forced me to leave Kushina's side to save Naruto. I flashed out of the secret room because the man had put an explosive tag on our son and I left Kushina unprotected. The moment I was gone, the man drew out the Kyuubi from Kushina. Because Kushina was an Uzumaki, she didn't die immediately after the Kyuubi was forced out of her. The man was about to let the Kyuubi kill her when I got there and got Kushina to our son. That night ended with me sealing the Kyuubi in my own son. I failed to protect Kushina, it was my fault that the man got to her. If I had just put more ANBU around the barrier and been more aware, maybe Kushina would still be alive. I made my own son become a Jinchuuriki and be mistreated by the villagers. In the end, it's my fault as well. I failed to keep my family safe. I wanted my son to be seen as a hero, not as a monster. Its my fault."

Sakura's eyes snapped up and she turned to Minato, smacking him over his head with a small amount of chakra.

"OUCH! What was that about?" Minato complained, holding his head.

Sakura rolled her eyes at him.

"Well, for starters, stop blaming yourself. What happened that night wasn't your fault. How would you know that man would come and attack you when you were vulnerable? And how would he know about the seal? How would he know that the only moment the seal on a female Jinchuuriki is weakened is when they give birth. I have been reading about Jinchuurikis and how the seals work. What happened that night was fate. There was nothing you could have done to prevent that. I can tell, even though Naruto had to go through many hardships, I don't think he would blame you. Sure, maybe a punch or something, but it's Naruto. He is a forgiving person. He would probably understand why you did it. You had no choice right? You didn't want to give this burden to another family's child. And I know that Naruto looks up to you, he admires the Fourth Hokage. His dream is to become Hokage one day and surpass the former Hokages."

Minato looked shocked ,but Sakura wasn't finished yet.

"Naruto has this natural ability to become friends with anyone he meets. He fought another Jinchuuriki in the Chunnin Exam, and they became friends. He just knocked some sense into people he fought and then they were friends. I don't know how he did it, but he did. Sure, Naruto is a bit clumsy, sometimes he acts like an idiot, and he doesn't see that a certain girl has feelings for him. I swear, every time they are together, I just want to knock some sense into your son. He doesn't see it, but Naruto has guts, he never gives up and he'll never go back on his words. He is a strong willed shinobi. He has the will of fire inside of him. He is a great teammate, and he never fails to amaze you. From what I heard, Naruto mastered the rasengan in a week. Never once I have seen him falter, even if his opponent has been stronger than him, Naruto just keeps going and getting stronger. "

Sakura shook her head.

Minato blinked, trying to take in what Sakura had just told him. Naruto wanted to become a Hokage, and looked up to him as a hero. He didn't know if he should laugh or cry for joy. Hearing how good Naruto is and how well he has turned out was a relief. His worries about Naruto disappeared when Sakura told him about his son. And having her telling him that it hadn't been his fault that night also helped.

Carefully, he laid his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes. Sakura didn't move or say anything. She just let him sit there. The silence was pleasant. Saki wasn't there to disturb them. And a part of her was glad she wasn't. Minato wouldn't have talked to her if Saki had been there.

"Thank you," he whispered.

"For what?" she whispered back curiously.

"For listening."

"It's nothing, I have been told that I'm a good listener."

"You are, more than you think."

Sakura smiled lightly, not looking up. "Really? I don't know what to say."

"There is nothing you need to say. I promise, you have done enough by just being here and listening to me."

Sakura opened her eyes and glanced down at him.

"I'm glad to be helpful at least."

Minato opened his eyes and glanced up at Sakura. She had closed her eyes.

"Well, speaking of nothing, perhaps we should start our training now, don't you think?"

Sakura's eyes flew open and looked down at him.

"Really? So what are you going to teach me Minato-sensei?"

Minato chuckled and sat back up.

"Well, I have some things in mind, since your chakra reserves have grown, and there is no need for you to call me Sensei."

"Really? Aw… what a shame."

Sakura joked, a giggle escaping her lips.

Minato let a smile come to his lips and chuckled.

"So, are you ready to begin our training?"

Sakura nodded, "I am."

Tsunade glared at the person in front of her desk.

"Did you ever tell Sarutobi-sensei about the Haruno clan?" she asked, her voice cold as ice.

"Sarutobi was a fool. He didn't see that girl's potential."

"And you thought you had the right to hide this information, so that you could get your hands on her, Danzo?!"

Danzo said nothing. He just glared back at Tsunade.

"Sakura is my student, Danzo, and I have no intention of letting you get your dirty hands on her so that you can turn her into a soulless, killing machine who you can use for your own benefit."

Danzo narrowed his eyes.

"What makes you say that?"

Tsunade slammed her fist on the desk.

"Don't you dare stand there and lie, Danzo! I know that you plotted with Sakura's aunt and uncle to use her gift, but they couldn't use it for they own benefit. So, you sealed her gift, so that Sarutobi wouldn't know about it. They have confessed, Danzo! There is nothing you can say or do to prove otherwise. Ibiki and Inouchi found evidence in their memories."

"What do you want?"

"I want you stay away from my student. If you don't, I will personally make sure you will wish you never were born."

Danzo snorted, and with that he left the office.

**To be continued**

Chapter 11 is finished. I'm just flying through these chapters, aren't I? Well, I hope you like it, sorry, but I can't kill off Danzo just yet, I wish I could, but I can't. We have to wait a while before that happens. I know there are people who want him dead. You just have to be patient, you know what to do now right?

R&R people!


	12. Chapter 12

We're Tied Together by Our Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

_"Blabla" _Saki speaking when Sakura is awake

_**"Blabla**__"_ = Minato speaking when Sakura is awake

Chapter 12

Sakura sat with her legs crossed. Minato wanted to start their little training session, and the first thing he planned to teach her about was seals.

Sakura hadn't thought about seals so much before, but she thought it would be interesting to learn them, and with having Minato as a teacher, it would definitely be interesting. She was curious as to why he wanted to begin with seals.

Sakura frowned, she was concentrating on the paper in front of her. Saki had somehow managed to get paper so that they could start working. Right now, Sakura was working on engraving a seal with her finger.

Saki was sitting a bit away, watching Sakura working, a smirk on her face. She was rather comfortable where she was sitting. Minato was sitting beside Sakura. Saki chuckled, making Minato look up at her.

"What's so funny, Saki?" Sakura asked, not even looking up.

Saki tilted her head.

"Nothing, you just look so focused over there. How is it going?"

Sakura grumbled something under her breath.

"What was that? Didn't catch that."

Minato shook his head.

"Please Saki, don't disturb my student now. She is doing so well."

"No, I am not," Sakura grumbled, glaring at the paper in front of her.

Saki opened her mouth to say something, but Minato spoke first.

"Of course you are, Sakura. Don't be so negative. You're doing great."

Sakura shook her head.

Saki frowned, "What the hell did your team do with your self-esteem, Sakura? I mean seriously, we're sitting here and saying you're doing well, and you just say no. Well, to be honest, I do hope you have some of that temper Tsunade has, because you need some of that. Minato, if I could, would you let me go and knock some sense into your former student? Because he doesn't seem to understand the meaning of having students."

Minato watched the work Sakura had done. He had explained about seals to her. So far, it looked good.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, you're doing great." Minato murmured. Sakura bit down on her lower lip. He studied her while she was working on the task he had given her. She looked kind of cute with the way she was so focused on the task at hand.

Saki glanced over to them, a yawn escaping her mouth. This was getting boring, but since Tsunade was busy with her duties, they had found time for some training together, and Saki would watch.

"Are you getting bored over there, Saki?" Sakura asked, still focused on her task in front of her.

"What makes you think that?" Saki said, frowning.

"Nothing, you just sound bored, that's all."

Minato nudged her, "Focus."

"I'm trying to, but I keep feeling Saki's stare."

"Pretend that she isn't there." Minato said, smiling, and glanced at Saki who pouted.

"Hey, stop being so mean, Blondie."

"Sorry, can't argue with you right now, I have a student who needs my attention."

Saki nodded, "Indeed, since her former sensei didn't give her any attention. I mean, no offense or anything Minato, knowing Kakashi was your student and all, but he doesn't seem to know how to have a team."

"Maybe it's because my team was the first he had passed." Sakura said, still trying to write a message with her chakra focused in her finger.

"What? Your team was the first he had passed? How come?" Minato asked.

"Well, his test was about teamwork, and at first we didn't manage it, but when it was time for lunch, Naruto got bound to one of the poles and Kakashi told me and Sasuke to not give Naruto any food. We did anyways, and because of that, Kakashi passed us since we acted like a team."

"I would love to get inside his head and see how his brain works." Saki muttered.

"Be quiet, will you? You're breaking my concentration." Sakura grouched.

Minato stared at Sakura.

She sensed him staring and glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, "What's the matter, Minato?"

Minato shook his head, "Just keep going, Sakura."

Sakura sighed and straightened up into a sitting positon.

Saki sat up straighter as well, a frown on her face.

"Did I say too much again?"

Minato gave her a nasty look, making her throw up her arms in surrender.

"Sorry, Blondie!"

Minato turned to Sakura concerned.

"What's the matter?"

Sakura shook her head, however, Minato saw that something was troubling her. Wrapping an arm around her shoulder, he held her lightly against him in a comforting manner.

"Tell me, Sakura. I can tell that something is bothering you."

"Maybe it is the unusual situation where her teacher puts all his attention on her and is not ignoring her at all or the fact that the teacher believes she is capable of doing this? Am I getting close Sakura?"

Sakura glared at Saki.

"Sakura."

"Well, I don't know if I will be able to do this."

Minato frowned. Another mistake Kakashi had made. He hadn't encouraged Sakura at all, making her self-esteem lower.

"Sakura, you are doing a great job. You have perfect control of your chakra. Because of a mistake by Kakashi, you're uncertain of your abilities. You can do more than you think, Sakura. I believe in you, and so do Tsunade and Saki."

Sakura looked up at Minato, but then looked away. However, Minato took her jaw in his hand and turned her face towards him, so that their eyes were locked.

"Sakura, you won't be alone and never will." Minato wrapped his other arm around her, hugging her. Sakura relaxed slightly and buried her face in his shoulder.

Saki made a silent 'aww', her head tilted, a grin on her lips. Minato glared back at her. Saki shrugged and leaned back against the tree behind her, her arms crossed over her chest.

They sat like that for a while, but both Minato and Saki figured out that Sakura needed it. Her parents weren't as lovely as they should have been.

Tsunade arrived to her office after a meeting with the council. The meeting had been meaningless at she had thought it would be. There was nothing new, the two old hags always had something to complain about.

Tsunade sat down to do something useful when a certain silver haired shinobi with a book in hand walked in through the door.

"Welcome back from your mission Kakashi, I guess the mission was successful?" Tsunade asked.

"Of course, Tsunade-sama. It went well."

"Good, the report?"

Kakashi gave her the report, "Here it is."

Tsunade laid the scroll on her desk and was about to continue when Kakashi spoke.

"Where is Sakura? Isn't she usually around you?"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment on it.

"Sakura is somewhere else right now. Why are you asking?"

Kakashi shrugged.

"Merely curious. I will take my leave now."

"Dismissed."

Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke. Tsunade sighed and got back to her work, or else Shizune would come and complain that she didn't do anything. Tsunade stopped in her tracks and looked up. Why would Kakashi ask about Sakura now, he hadn't asked about her since Sakura had came to her and asked her to train her. Tsunade groaned and put away the paperwork.

"SHIZUNE!"

A black haired woman, with a pig in her arms, came in.

"What's the matter, Tsunade-sama?"

"Get Kakashi back here, I need to have a chat with him."

Shizune nodded and left the blonde Hokage alone in the office.

Tsunade leaned back in her chair.

It didn't take long before Shizune was back with Kakashi.

"Thank you, Shizune. Please leave us."

Shizune nodded and left the office.

"What's the matter Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi asked.

"Kakashi, I was wondering, how come you wanted to know where Sakura was?"

Kakashi shrugged.

"Like I said earlier, I was curious."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes.

"Kakashi, not even once, since Sakura has started to train with me, have you asked about or mentioned Sakura. She was your student until she asked me to train her, and you didn't even bother to comment on that. Why?"

Kakashi frowned, "Why would I? It was Sakura's choice to come to you, right? I didn't tell her to do it."

"Kakashi, have you ever thought about the reason why Sakura went to me and asked me to train her? Do you have any idea?"

Kakashi shrugged, "No, I do not."

"Well, then may I ask a question? When your team was still together, how much time did you put on each one of them, not as a team, but to help them to develop their own skills?"

Kakashi thought back, however it didn't take him a long time before he answered.

"Well, a fair amount."

"Even Sakura?"

Kakashi sighed, "May I be honest with you? Naruto and Sasuke had and still have the potential, while Sakura, well she has perfect chakra control, but that's all. Maybe she wasn't fit to become a shinobi."

Tsunade said nothing and just stared at him.

"That's all I wanted to hear, you're dismissed Kakashi."

Kakashi left without a second thought, leaving Tsunade in a bad mood.

"And here I thought he had some common sense, it doesn't matter, they all will soon be proved wrong and will change their minds about Sakura."

With that in mind, Tsunade returned to the dreadful paperwork.

She had a lot paperwork to do today and she was already behind schedule.

With Sakura

Sakura and Minato had resumed training. To Minato's surprise, Sakura had no difficulty learning about seals. It came naturally for her, even if she didn't believe it. However, with help from Saki, Minato was able to get through Sakura's doubts about herself, but they needed to work on her self-confidence.

They were sitting, working on the finger graving seal. This time however, Sakura would try to do it on a living person and since Saki had nothing to do…

"How badly will this hurt?" Saki asked, glancing warily at Sakura and Minato.

Minato had his poker face on which made it impossible for Saki to get anything by his face. Sakura who had no clue about it…

"Relax, it won't be that bad, you will be just fine."

"Do tell, did you ever do this to a living person?"

"Yeah, I did, Kushina forced me to do it to Jiraiya, Tsunade held him while I was doing it. He lived through it."

Saki grimaced, but said nothing. She took a deep breath and relaxed.

"Okay, I am ready now, bring it on, Sakura."

Saki gave Sakura her arm, and Sakura held the arm and focused her chakra in her finger and started to write the sentence Minato had told her to write.

"HOLY CRAP!" Saki screamed, her eyes tightly shut.

Sakura bit her lips and looked back at Minato who nodded for her to continue.

"When we are finished, I'm going beat the crap out of you, MINATO!" Saki exclaimed loudly, sending a dark look to Minato who grinned.

"Oh suck it up, you can handle it."

Sakura grimaced, she gave Saki a look of pity.

"Don't pity her Sakura, Saki volunteered herself for this, so you could practice doing this to a living being. "

Saki said nothing, but glared at Minato.

"You're such an evil man, though with your looks it's hard to believe." Saki mocked.

"Saki, be nice." Sakura said, looking at Saki who grimaced in pain.

"I will be nice as long as he is nice."

"Me? I am always nice, right Sakura?"

Sakura giggled, shaking her head.

"Of course you are, Minato. "

"Ha! Hear that Saki?" Minato mocked.

Sakura sighed, "You two do really like annoy each other, don't you?" Sakura asked, still focusing on her task.

"We do not like to annoy each other." Saki said.

"Sounds like you do to me." Sakura said, grinning

"Sakura, don't be mean to us." Minato said, complaining.

Sakura looked at Minato, an eyebrow raised. "Am I mean to you?"

Saki flinched in pain, sending a glare at Minato. "Don't break her concentration, Blondie."

Minato said nothing, but watched the job Sakura had done. She had done a great job for having just started to learn about sealing.

"Amazing." he whispered to himself, but Sakura heard him.

"What's amazing?" She asked, throwing a quick glance to him.

"It's amazing how well you do this on your first try while being a beginner in the act of sealing."

"Oh…thank you."

Saki yelped in pain.

"Be still." Sakura scolded Saki.

"Easier said than done."

Sakura just rolled her eyes, and Minato smirked, looking smug.

"Why are you looking so smug, Blondie?"

"Because you're the one who has to endure this."

Sakura sighed, this would be a long day.

**To be continued**

Chapter 12 is finished. I hope you like it and will leave a review. I"ll be so happy to get reviews from you readers. Next chapter will be a time skip, so it'll be around when Naruto is about to come back from his training trip with Jiraiya. Now that's going be interesting.


	13. Chapter 13

We're Tied Together by Our Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

_"Blabla"_ Saki speaking when Sakura is awake

_"Blabla"_ = Minato speaking when Sakura is awake

Chapter 13

Three years. It had been three years since she had seen Naruto. Everything had changed over these three years. Sakura had grown up into quite the young woman. She had changed dramatically. Standing at the window in Tsunade's office, Sakura remembered that day when she had noticed the changes.

**Flashback**

The alarm clock started to do it's job, waking up Sakura. Groaning, she turned off the alarm. And of course, it wasn't only her alarm that was trying to wake her up.

_"Good morning sleepy head, rise and shine!"_

Sakura threw off the blanket and went to the bathroom to take a shower. Half an hour later, Sakura got out of the shower. She got dressed and was about brush her hair when she saw something strange in the mirror. Taking a bit of her hair into her hand, she tried to get a closer view.

"What is this?"

_"What is what?"_

"My hair!"

_"What about it? Sure, it's getting longer, but it fits you. You shouldn't have cut it back then, you know."_

"I didn't mean that! It's getting yellow!"

_"What? No way? You're going to be a blondie?"_

Sakura let her hair go and sighed.

"It sure does look that way."

_"Wait until Minato sees and hears about this."_

**Flashback End**

Sakura's hair had slowly became more and more yellow, the pink color disappearing every day. She was looking more like a blondie, as Saki would call it, with every day that passed.

The door behind her opened, and Sakura turned her head slightly to see Tsunade coming in, a smile on her face.

"Sakura, they have returned."

"Really? That's good, but how will I explain this?"

Sakura pointed at her hair.

Tsunade shrugged, "Just say you got it from your family."

Sakura hesitated, but nodded in the end.

"Tsunade-sama, are we going to tell Jiraiya? I mean, he was Minato's teacher after all."

Tsunade sighed, "I think it's the best thing we can do, and not only that, Jiraiya can teach you more about seals. I don't think it would be wise to let Naruto know this. I will discuss this matter with Jiraiya alone and see what he has to say, but since it's about Minato, I doubt he will refuse to help you."

Sakura nodded and turned back to look out the window.

She was a bit nervous about meeting Naruto, but at the same time, she was happy. She had missed that knucklehead; he was like a brother to her, nothing else, and she knows Hinata still loves him. Her crush on the blonde shinobi had only grown over the past three years. Naruto had inspired Hinata to become stronger.

Speaking of her friends, her friendship with Tenten and Ino had faded, however, her friendship with Hinata had only gotten stronger. She didn't hate Tenten or Ino, but she lost some of her trust in them. Could she really trust them when they went behind her back and said bad things about her? No, she couldn't.

Sakura moved slightly.

_"Are you going out to meet your teammate? I'm guessing he'll be happy to see you."_

Sakura went out and saw Tsunade waiting for her. They went to the gates to meet up with Naruto and Jiraiya. Sakura hoped Naruto had matured a bit.

_"Well, it's Naruto we are talking about, so I doubt that. Also, he has been together with Jiraiya, the biggest pervert in this world, so I wouldn't have any high hopes for that."_

_"What are you talking about?"_

_"Oh...Minato believe me when I say that your son, is a bit of a pervert and an idiot. I'm still wondering how he created that jutsu."_

"I don't want to know how he did it. I just wish he had never made that jutsu."

_"What kind of a jutsu did he create?"_

_"Trust me, you will smack yourself in the face when you see it."_

Sakura saw Jiraiya standing, looking up at something. She looked up and saw Naruto standing on the pole, looking out over the village.

"Hey, Naruto!" Sakura called out. She saw him looking down before he jumped down.

"Hey, Sakura-chan! Its been a while…" Naruto said and trailed off, seeing her hair.

Sakura sighed.

"Spill it out, Naruto"

"Your hair?"

"A family thing." Sakura answered, giving Naruto a look that said 'don't you dare laugh'.

"Ah...it looks good on you Sakura-chan."

Sakura rolled her eyes, however, she took a close look.

"You have grown, you're taller than me now."

"Eh? Really?" Naruto said and measured his height.

"BOSS!"

Both Sakura and Naruto turned around and were greeted by a naked woman with brown hair and smoke around her.

_"Eh?!"_

_"I should have known that was coming. I mean, Konohamaru did learn that jutsu after all."_

The woman disappeared in a puff and a smaller boy with a shinobi headband appeared. He were wearing a long scarf around his neck.

He grinned, "What did you think of that boss?"

Sakura glanced at Jiraiya who was drooling.

"Heh, Konohamaru, I'm not like that anymore…."

_"Looks someone has grown up."_

"It must be rounder! Sexier!"

Sakura tripped on her feet.

_"See? I told you that your son is a pervert, Minato!_

_"Oh my…"_

Sakura glared, and before anyone reacted, Sakura punched Naruto, sending him flying several meters away from the group. Konohamaru and his friends hugged Jiraiya in fright, and even Jiraiya looked frightened. Tsunade on the other hand, looked pleased.

Sakura growled, glaring at her blonde teammate.

"You haven't changed one bit, have you?!"

Jiraiya glanced at Tsunade.

"You made her a mini clone of yourself, didn't you?" he asked, glancing at his old teammate. Tsunade smirked at him.

"Maybe I did, speaking of which, you and I need to have a chat, it's important."

Jiraiya saw the serious look Tsunade was giving him and nodded.

"Of course."

Sakura was beating and scolding her teammate when something silver caught her eyes.

"Is that you, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi landed beside Jiraiya, his usual eye smile on his face.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Kakashi looked at Sakura and Naruto.

"I have the feeling that you haven't changed so much."

Sakura snorted.

"He hasn't." Sakura said, pointing at Naruto who was holding his head.

"I can see that, however, you seem to have. What's with your hair?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes.

"It's a family thing, Kakashi." She said, looking straight at him.

Kakashi nodded, but he didn't look like he bought it, but Sakura could care less right now.

_"Well, he hasn't been around for the last three years, so why would we care what he thinks?"_

_"It's true that he hasn't, but he is suspicious about your hair."_

"Well, I can care less about what he thinks about it right now."

"Well, then what do you say about a little test?"

Sakura snapped out of her thoughts when Kakashi spoke.

"What do you mean, Kakashi-sensei?"

"I mean, that I want to test you, to see how much you have grown and how much better you have become."

_"Does that sound like we are allowed to break his bones? Because I am all for it if that's the case."_

_"Be nice now."_

"That sounds like a good idea. In the meantime, Jiraiya and I will go to Hokage Tower, there is something I need to discuss with him." Tsunade said, looking at her former teammate. Jiraiya nodded.

"All right, let's do this! Dattebayo!"

_"Hey, Blondie, who did he get that from? You, or his mother?"_

_"His mother, she always said that all the time. I have no idea why though."_

Sakura ignored them both and went after Kakashi and Naruto, while Tsunade and Jiraiya went to Hokage Tower to discuss.

With Tsunade and Jiraiya

Once they had arrived to her office and Tsunade had taken a seat, Jiraiya asked, "What's the matter, Hime?"

"Jiraiya, what I'm going to tell you is classified information, no one but you should know this. You are not allowed to tell anyone else, especially Naruto or Kakashi, got it?"

Jiraiya frowned, but nodded.

"Well, to keep things simple, one and a half year ago Sakura and I found out something surprising. I'll be frank with you, Minato's soul is sealed within Sakura's mind."

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes.

"That's not something you joke about, Tsunade-hime."

"Does it look like I am joking, Jiraiya?" Tsunade exclaimed, glaring at him.

"No, you seem very serious. Are you sure about this?"

"I am. Damn, Minato's soul has even appeared for me once. There is a seal on her neck, I can't do anything about it though. However, Minato has trained Sakura as well."

Jiraiya frowned, "But how? And does Minato have something to do with her hair suddenly becoming yellow?"

Tsunade nodded.

"It seems that the seal has affected them both so much that Sakura not only got Minato's DNA into hers, but also has the same chakra levels as Minato had when he was alive."

"Of course, I will do my best to help her. Is there anyone else besides you and me who knows about this?"

Tsunade shook her head.

"No, and I want to keep it that way."

Jiraiya pushed himself off the wall and headed towards the door.

"I see, and you thought I deserved to know?"

"Jiraiya, Minato was your student. Minato has started to teach Sakura about seals, and we had hoped that you could help with it. However, Naruto mustn't know, understand?"

Jiraiya nodded, "Shall we go and see how it goes for our students?"

Tsunade smirked, "Let's. I do not want to miss the chance to see the Kakashi's confident look wiped off his face when Sakura kicks his ass."

"Hohoho, aren't you confident?"

"I know what my student is capable of, Jiraiya. She can handle herself. If you need to worry for someone, it should be for Kakashi and not my student."

They left the office and headed towards the training ground where Sakura and Naruto were supposed to have their test with Kakashi, but as usual…

Kakashi was late.

They could hear Naruto complaining from a distance. Tsunade shook her head.

"Still as impatient as always, I hear."

"Well, patience has never been his strongest point, and neither was it Kushina's."

Jiraiya said, glancing sideways at Tsunade.

Tsunade smirked.

"If someone had a temper, it was her, but her skills made up for it." Jiraiya said, remembering Kushina.

"Oh, I remember when she found out that you were peeking on her and her friends. That was quite a beating you got that day." Tsunade said, sighing, a content smile on her lips.

Jiraiya muttered something under his breath, but said nothing more.

"WHERE THE HELL IS KAKASHI-SENSEI?!"

Sakura flinched at Naruto's screaming. She sent a glare towards her blonde teammate, but he didn't see it. he was too busy walking around in circles in annoyance.

"Calm down, Naruto. You should have known that this would happen, since when has Kakashi-sensei ever been on time?" Sakura asked rubbing her forehead.

_"Never"_

_"I don't think she needs us to join the conversation Saki."_

_"Well…we just did, hey Blondie, were you just as oblivious as your son is when it comes down to girls? I mean, your son must be blind because he doesn't realize that there is someone who really likes him, and instead he is following Sakura around like a lost puppy. Sure is he nice and all, being a friend, but it gets annoying when he constantly asks Sakura out on dates, I bet he will ask her out after this little test for some ramen."_

_"Sorry, I can't help you, I wasn't that oblivious. He got that from Kushina I am afraid. __Who is this girl who likes him anyways?"_

_"Hinata Hyuuga, a kind and sweet girl. She would be perfect for your son. Now, if he could just stop chasing after Sakura, and stop being so blind so that he can see what he has."_

_"It's going to take some time for that to happen, I'm afraid. If he is just as oblivious as Kushina, you're going to need a miracle."_

_"Are you serious? Was she that bad? Oh my, you must have been struggling to get her attention, Blondie."_

_"It wasn't that hard really. If I wanted to eat lunch with her, I just said ramen and my treat. __She would come running."_

_"Yeah, for the ramen I imagine. So Naruto got that from Kushina as well then?"_

_"He did."_

Sakura shook her head, trying not to listen in on their conversation. They were distracting her, so she failed to notice that Kakashi had appeared and Naruto was yelling at their sensei for being late as usual.

You would think that Naruto would have known better by now that no one expect Tsunade could get Kakashi to come on time. He never ceased to amaze her with coming up with those lame excuses.

Really? Lost on the road of life? What kind of excuse is that?

"Sakura-chan, we are about to start." Naruto yelled, jumping around her.

Sakura grabbed Naruto and held him still.

"Be still, you're making me dizzy with all that jumping around me."

"Sorry, Sakura-chan." Naruto pouted, looking like a little kid.

Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Geez, easy there, no need get depressed on me now. We have bells to steal."

Sakura turned to Kakashi with a smirk on her lips.

"Am I right, Kakashi-sensei?"

"You're correct, Sakura. It's the same test as the first time, you have until dawn to get the bells from me. You know how this works, right? On my count to three. One…Two…Three!"

Kakashi disappeared, and so the bell test began once again for team seven, minus a certain Uchiha.

**To be continued**

Chapter 13 is finished and Naruto is back. Jiraiya knows about Minato and will help Sakura with her seals. I thought Jiraiya deserved to know about Minato since he was Minato's teacher.

I hope you like it so far, and will stay with this story until the very end. R&R people, and of course, what would I do without my beta Westwindwaker?


	14. Chapter 14

We're Tied Together by Our Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

_"Blabla"_ Saki speaking when Sakura is awake

_"Blabla"_ = Minato speaking when Sakura is awake

Chapter 14

Sakura glanced around, trying to locate where Kakashi was hiding. He had disappeared just as quickly as the first time they had done this. Naruto, was of course, being himself, complaining about how unfair it was that Kakashi had done the same thing again.

"Right, above, left," Sakura muttered under her breath.

Sakura turned around and around, looking for Kakashi, "There is only one place that he could be at."

Sakura clenched her fist and focused her chakra in it. In no time at all, her fist smashed against the ground, breaking it.

Smirking, Sakura saw Kakashi in the ground staring at her with eyes widened in shock. He hadn't expected that.

"That's for underestimating me."

Sakura heard Saki giggle, but paid her no mind and focused on her target. She heard Naruto gulping and moving in unease.

"Kakashi-sensei? I found you." She said, a smirk on her lips.

Kakashi jumped up from the rocks and chuckled nervously, "Indeed, you did find me. Good job, Sakura."

"Yeah, you better not underestimate this girl anymore, Hatake, or you're getting broken bones."

_"I wouldn't want to piss her off now..."_ Minato said with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of her? She wouldn't hurt you."

Sakura ignored them and saw Naruto heading towards Kakashi with a shadow clone.

Right now she needed to focus, then she could pay attention to the people in her head, since they were clearly trying to distract her.

She had a copy ninja to break, and she had the intention to take out her frustration on him.

She would teach him what would happen if he makes her wait for him from now on.

Kakashi knocked out Naruto's shadow clone when he unintentionally shivered. Looking up, he saw Sakura coming towards him, with the intention to kill.

Kakashi sweat dropped. Maybe he shouldn't have told them to come towards him with the intention to kill, since Sakura looked ready to break every single bone in his body.

Tsunade smirked, knowing that Kakashi was about to find out what happened to people who underestimated her student.

It's a shame she couldn't use the seal Minato had taught her, but it would be suspicious if she randomly started to use seals that Minato used. Kakashi would sense that something was going on, seeing that Kakashi was a former student of Minato. Kakashi knew every jutsu Minato had used while he was alive.

It was very tempting to let her use those skills, just to see Kakashi's reaction.

"You have trained her wel.l" Jiraiya commented, looking at Tsunade who answered him with a smirk.

"Of course, I do not leave my students to take care of themselves, like a certain copy ninja did."

Jiraiya nodded, "I don't blame you. It was bad of Kakashi, but is that all there is to it?"

Tsunade glanced at Jiraiya.

"Jiraiya, Kakashi had no intention to train Sakura. If she hadn't come to me and asked me to train her even though she thought she had no talent, she couldn't get better. Over these last three years, Kakashi has only asked about Sakura once, and it was only because she wasn't in my office as usual."

Jiraiya frowned, and turned to look at the match between Kakashi and his students.

"I can't believe that. Kakashi should have known better, right?"

"Jiraiya, he wasn't the only one who has asked about Sakura."

Jiraiya focused his attention on Tsunade, forgetting all about the sparring.

"Who else did?"

"Danzo did, and he has been trying to sneak around to get information about Sakura. He is suspicious of her getting blonde hair. He knows Sakura is from the Haruno Clan, and about her gift. He sealed it when she was around three."

"You want to know why he is after Sakura."

"Jiraiya, you're the one with the best spy network, if anyone would be able to get any information about Danzo, you're the one. Think about what would happen if Danzo found out Minato was sealed in her mind?"

Jiraiya nodded grimly, "Something terrible. Don't worry Hime, I will send some spys to Danzo and get some information, perhaps he isn't working alone on this."

Tsunade nodded and glanced back up to see Naruto creating a shadow clone and making a rasengan.

"Has he improved upon his rasengan?"

"Yes, he has, and he has plans of trying to complete it."

Tsunade nodded in approval, "He is growing up, and looking more like Minato isn't he?"

"He is, however, Kushina's traits are also there. His sense of humor and his joy to prank others. Also, his temper and his chakra control were hers.

Tsunade chuckled, shaking her head, "Right, but it seems that he is getting better, isn't he?"

"He is, but as always he is still impatient. I guess that is something which will never change."

"Of course, Kushina wouldn't have it any other way."

"Tsunade, we have another problem."

Tsunade frowned, "What?"

"The Akatsuki have started to move again. I'm afraid that they will try to get to Naruto. I think they have found out that Naruto is back in the village."

"I will alert the barrier team. No one whose chakra is not recognized by the barrier will get in."

Jiraiya nodded, "Whatever you do, do not put Naruto on a mission which can lead him to the Akatsuki. I am afraid that he would want to find them before they find him."

"Knowing him, trouble will get to him anyways, no matter what we do."

"Perhaps…speaking of things…I have to admit, Sakura does look very different with blonde hair, but it fits her."

Tsunade sent a warning look towards him.

"Be careful Jiraiya, Minato might hear you."

Jiraiya grinned.

"Ohohoh, I imagine he is enjoying being in her head, having her attention all the time."

"What are you implying, Jiraiya?" Tsunade asked, narrowing her eyes, glaring at her former teammate.

"Well. Sakura is a beautiful young woman, how long do you think it would take Minato before starts to notice that? I mean, she is an attractive woman." Jiraiya said, his eyebrows moving up and down in suggestion.

"You're an idiot. You know that, Jiraiya?"

"Afraid of a simple bet, Tsunade?"

"Of course not. It would be rude of me to bet on how long it would take my student to fall for a man who is sealed in her head."

Jiraiya chuckled, "I said we should be betting on how long it would take for Minato to fall for her, not the other way around. Do you know something that I do not?"

Tsunade scoffed and shook her head. "I don't know, Jiraiya. I'm not sure what to believe anymore. What if Sakura ends up falling for Minato? What would happen?"

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure we'll find a solution for this in the end."

"Jiraiya, what would Naruto say if his teammate falls for his father? And what about when he finds out about Minato and Kushina? How will he react?"

Jiraiya hesitated a bit, and Tsunade noticed it.

"Jiraiya, what did you do?"

Sighing, Jiraiya looked at Tsunade seriously.

"Tsunade, I told Naruto that I am his godfather."

Tsunade looked at him shocked.

"You did what?! Jiraiya, do you have any idea of what you have done? Sarutobi-sensei classified that information for a reason, and you know that!"

"Tsunade, I know that. However Naruto deserved to know. I have been feeling regret for not being able to be there for my godson, to do what I promised Minato and Kushina. I promised to them that I would take care of Naruto if something happened to them, to raise him and teach him the way of the will of fire, just like Sarutobi-sensei taught me and just like I taught Minato. I couldn't continue to live with this burden anymore. Naruto deserved to know. Every day after that night, I'm been cursing myself for not being able to fulfill the promise, and for letting Naruto suffer for something which he had no control over, for letting him go on without a family for all this time."

Tsunade was shocked to hear those words from Jiraiya; she had no idea Jiraiya had felt like that. She hadn't thought that Jiraiya would take his responsibility as a godfather to heart, but here he was, standing and saying that he was blaming himself for letting Naruto be alone. She couldn't argue with him.

"Did you say anything about his parents, Jiraiya?"

Jiraiya shook his head.

"I told him, that when he is ready to know, one of us would tell him. Naruto understood that, and promised that he would get stronger and make sure that he would be ready for that day to come. He wants know badly. I could see that, but he was holding back, afraid to ask about them. Perhaps he has some guesses about his father. I mean, how the hell does the village look at the face of the Fourth Hokage and not see the resemblance between these two?"

Tsunade sighed, "Well, how did the revelation that you are his godfather?"

"Well, he was surprised, and laughed at me a bit, but when he noticed I was serious, he became serious as well. Of course, he asked why I hadn't been there. I explained to him that the council didn't want me to raise him, and I that I needed keep my eyes on Orochimaru, to try to find any information on if our former teammate was planning to attack the village, and that I had no choice but to leave him in the village. After that, he understood, and became even more happy and determined to finish the training."

Tsunade smiled, "That might be a good thin, Jiraiya. I need your help. I was planning to send Sakura on a mission alone. It's more like a test than a mission really, but I don't want Naruto or Kakashi to be with her."

"You want me to keep them busy?"

Tsunade nodded.

"Yes, I'm planning to send her to the snow mountain. A friend of mine will be there, waiting."

"What is your reason for sending her there?" Jiraiya asked, curious.

"This friend told me that she had an offer for Sakura about a kind of summoning contract, and that if Sakura were to accept, she would be taught something similar to senjutsu."

"Really? And here I thought that you would give Sakura the summon contract of the slugs."

"I have already, it doesn't mean that she can't have a second one. The slug contact is more for her medical jutsu, while this contact my friend is offering is more of an offensive type."

"Tsunade, did I ever tell you that I taught Minato senjutsu?"

Tsunade turned around, her attention only on Jiraiya.

"What?! You taught him senjutsu?! Why didn't you tell me about that before?"

Jiraiya shrugged, "Why would it matter?"

"Jiraiya, if you haven't gotten it yet, Minato is in Sakura's head. As far as we know, she has gotten his chakra reserves and probably his ability to perform his jutsu as well."

Jiraiya nodded, "Okay, I get it. But for now, we have no idea if Sakura is able to use his senjutsu since you need to have a summoning contact with the toads. I have no idea if it works for both of them now."

Tsunade nodded, sighing. Turning back to the battlefield, she saw that Kakashi was in the middle of a deadly dance with Sakura. With one hit of her fist, Sakura would send him flying away, giving him many broken bones in the process.

"This is taking too long, I promised to send Sakura in a few hours. It will take a day or two for Sakura to get to the location where she will meet up with my friend."

Tsunade crossed her arms over her chest.

"Don't worry, knowing Naruto, he probably found a way to get to Kakashi."

True enough, they heard Kakashi scream a 'NO!' somewhere from within the forest.

"It seems they got to him." Jiraiya said, grinning.

Tsunade nodded, and saw Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi coming out from the forest. Naruto and Sakura were each holding one bell. Naruto laughed loudly.

"Good job you two, you have grown quite a lot over these three years."

"Of course we have Baa-chan. What do you think I have been doing?"

"Eating ramen?" Sakura queried, rolling her eyes.

Naruto pouted.

"Now, then. You two have grown up and are no longer my students, but my team" Kakashi said.

Tsunade wanted to snort, but held it back.

"Not quite yet Kakashi, I need Sakura for a mission, and neither you nor Naruto will go with her."

Tsunade said, raising her hand to silence Naruto who was about to protest.

"Don't get so stressed over it, Sakura can take care of herself and there is no need for you to worry. Sakura will meet a friend of mine for a reason that is none of your concern. So Sakura, I want you go home, prepare yourself, and rest. I want you to report to me before leaving in the morning, got it?"

"Hai!"

Naruto looked annoyed, but said nothing. Tsunade glanced at Kakashi who had taken up his book again, and started to read it. Rolling her eyes, she dismissed them all.

Sakura snickered at seeing Naruto's and Kakashi's reaction for her mission.

It would be fun to imagine them being left in the village while she was on a mission. It would be hilarious, she would have to ask Hinata to take pictures of them while she was gone.

**To be continued**

Well, I hope you like it. I am happy for all of the reviews which inspire me to write the chapters faster, which I know you appreciate, seeing as you like this story. As you have noticed, I won't follow canon fully, since I have made Jiraiya reveal that he is Naruto's godfather. Please R&R people, but I am sure that you know that already.

Thank you, Westwindwaker, for helping.


	15. Chapter 15

We're Tied Together by Our Souls

_"Blabla"_ Saki speaking when Sakura is awake

_"Blabla"_ = Minato speaking when Sakura is awake

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 15

When Sakura got home from the test with Kakashi and Naruto, she was tired. Naruto had kept complaining about the mission Sakura would go on alone and she was getting frustrated about it.

"Why are they so annoying? Why do they think I can't handle myself?"

_"Well, you know Naruto. He is just concerned about you, and Kakashi is annoying."_

_"Sakura, relax. Don't think about it, just focus on the mission right now."_

Sakura was packing the last of the clothes she needed, her medical kit, and her scrolls in the bag. She always has a bag packed and ready to take with her on missions.

Sakura closed the bag when someone was knocking on the door.

Sakura walked to the door and opened it. Hinata was standing there.

"Hello Sakura, do you have the time to talk?"

"Hi Hinata, sure, come in."

Sakura let Hinata come in and closed the door behind her friend. They walked into the kitchen.

"Do you want something? Tea?"

"Tea would be nice, thank you."

Sakura prepared the tea while Hinata sat down at the table.

"Is there something wrong, Hinata?"

Sakura leaned against the desk, watching her friend in concern.

"Not really, I just heard that Naruto was back and I wanted to hear it from you, since you are his teammate."

Sakura nodded.

Hinata had grown up quite much. Her hair was much longer, and because she was around Sakura and Tsunade a lot, Hinata had gotten much more confident. Her father seemed to have approved of these changes; she was not only confident, but had also gotten better in her skills. Sakura had helped Hinata to train. Sometimes, Hinata had joined Sakura in her training with Tsunade.

"That's true, Hinata. Naruto is back. We had a little test with Kakashi. I just came back from it."

Hinata nodded and saw the bag, "Is your team going on a mission?"

Sakura shook her head, "Not my team. I will go alone on a mission. Tsunade wanted me to do the mission alone. It's not dangerous, so don't worry about me while I am gone, okay?"

Hinata nodded, "Okay, please be careful anyways, you never know what could happen during a mission."

"Thank you, Hinata. Oh, would you mind keeping an eye on Naruto while I am gone? You know how he is, he'll probably get himself into trouble the very moment I leave the village, that knuckle head."

Hinata smiled and nodded, "Of course, if I ask Kiba, I'm certain that he can help keep Naruto busy by challenging him to spar."

"Thanks."

The girls sat and chatted for an hour before Hinata left Sakura alone in her apartment.

_"Get a shower and then go to bed."_

_"I just hope Hinata will manage to keep Naruto busy."_

_"Now, Saki, don't be so negative. I'm certain that she will manage to keep him busy."_

Sakura sighed, hearing that Saki was about to start another argument.

An hour later, Sakura got out of the shower and went to bed. She had a long day tomorrow.

With Hinata

Hinata was walking around in the streets, she was about to head back home when someone called her.

"Hey Hinata!"

Hinata stopped and saw Naruto coming towards her, running.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata said. Suddenly she felt nervous; she was alone with her crush.

"Hey, Hinata, long time no see, how are you? I saw you walking by when I was about to go home and decided to say hi."

Hinata nodded, smiling.

"It has been a long time since the last time we have seen each other, Naruto-kun. How are you?"

Naruto grinned, "I'm fine, I just got some ramen, pestered Kakashi-sensei for being a pervert, and failed to get Sakura to join me for some ramen."

"She needs to prepare for the mission she has tomorrow."

Naruto blinked, looking taken by surprise.

"Yeah, how do you know about that?"

"I was just with Sakura in her apartment, we had some tea and talked. She mentioned that she had a mission tomorrow."

"Yeah, I was annoyed when Tsunade-baa-chan told me she was going alone and neither I nor Kakashi-sensei were allowed to go with her. I mean, what if something were to happen to her?"

"Naruto-kun, Sakura is capable of handling herself, besides, this is not the first mission she has had. She had a few solo missions before and it went well. You should trust Tsunade-sama. If she thinks that Sakura can handle this mission alone, she will be just fine."

Naruto looked stunned, he hadn't expected Hinata to be standing here and telling him to not to worry about Sakura because she could take care of herself.

"Sakura has grown, and gotten stronger Naruto. By trying to protect her, you are pushing her down. You won't let her move forward or get stronger, it hurts when your own teammates are overprotective, taking your fights and preventing you from growing."

Hinata said, frowning.

Naruto looked down, taking in all of what Hinata told him. She might be right, and he realized that he shouldn't be worried so much, but why was he?

"Hinata, I know, but I can't help but worry, Sakura is like family to me, I don't want her to get hurt. I want to keep her safe."

Hinata looked at him, regarding him with a serious look.

"Naruto what is Sakura to you? A friend? A sister?"

Naruto thought back, in the beginning he had a crush on her, but now? He wasn't sure. He had grown up more than people around him thought he had. Sure, he still had his sense of humor, he was still clumsy, and wasn't smart, but the training trip was an eye opener.

Sakura was nothing more than a crush he had all those years ago. Now, she was more like a sister, or a friend he could trust. She would be there when he needed her help. Sakura had promised before he had left with Jiraiya, she would get stronger and together they would get Sasuke back. He didn't want to lose another friend.

"Sakura-chan is my friend. I don't want anything bad to happen to her. She is family."

Hinata nodded, "Then trust Sakura on this Naruto. She will be all right. She is strong, and doesn't need anyone to protect her. Sakura is ready to fight her own battles, but you have to let her do it. You are still a team."

Naruto met her eyes and for a moment he was lost. He didn't know what to do, but Hinata was firm and believed in Sakura, and as her teammate, he should as well.

Nodding, Naruto smiled, "You're right, thank you, Hinata. So, do you want to have some company on your way back home? It's getting dark, and I don't want to leave you here alone."

Hinata giggled and nodded. Together, they walked through the village.

The next morning

Sakura woke, hearing the alarm clock going off. Turning it off, Sakura got up and got herself ready to leave for the mission. Before that, however, she would go and see Tsunade, then she could start her mission.

"Well, at least we don't have Kakashi around us, I swear, he is annoying me with his lack of care. Argh! I can't take it!

Sakura sighed, shaking her head. There was no use in arguing with Saki. Whenever Saki started arguing about something, there was no stopping her.

She could feel Minato getting tired of Saki's rambling.

Taking her bag, Sakura headed out of her apartment and went to the Hokage Tower where Tsunade was waiting for her.

Meanwhile

"You can't be serious about this!" Kakashi argued with Tsunade.

Tsunade just glared at him.

"You have nothing to say about this, Kakashi. I will let Sakura go on this mission and nothing you do or say will make me change my mind, so either you leave me alone on your own, or I will force you out and be warned, it will hurt in that case." Tsunade said, glaring at the copy ninja. Kakashi gulped and quickly left the office.

However, just as he had left, Sakura walked in.

"Well, aren't I popular today?" Tsunade said, smirking.

Sakura shrugged, "Maybe, but how would I know? I just came now, so I can't tell."

"True, now let's get down to business, shall we? Take a seat and I will brief you about the mission."

Sakura sat down and waited for Tsunade to continue.

"Now, I want you to go to Ice Mountain, there you will meet an old friend of mine. I have been keeping in contact with her the last year and she wants to meet you personally, she thought she had something which would be in your interest. She didn't say much more of what it was, however, I trust her, so I have no doubts thst whatever she had in mind, it'll probably be something good for you. However, she had warned me that you will be there for a while, probably few weeks, but I know you'll able to handle it."

Sakura nodded.

"She will meet up with you close to the mountain. Her name is Tsukiko."

"Is there anything else I need to know?"

Tsunade shook her head, "Nothing that Tsukiko wouldn't be able to tell you."

"All right then, shall I take my leave now then?"

"You may, and good luck. Whatever you do with Tsukiko, I am certain it will do you good."

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama"

Sakura left the office and headed out of the village and towards Ice Mountain. It would take several hours for her to reach the mountain, however, considering the danger around the mountain, Sakura would be proceeding cautiously. She knew the wild animals around the mountain were dangerous, and she didn't know where she would meet up with Tsukiko. She hoped Tsukiko would find her first.

Serveral hours later, Sakura decided to take a rest. And of course, Saki and Minato were arguing about something new.

"How long are you going to argue?"

"As long as it takes until you realize that I am right, and he is wrong."

_"What's with the sarcasm Saki, I thought you were happy that we were given this mission and were able to leave the village?"_

Sakura groaned, they were never going to stop.

Sakura tensed, she sensed someone or something not too far from her. Someone was approaching her, and fast.

Suddenly, someone landed few meters away from Sakura. She was a woman with black and white hair, she had crystal blue eyes, her skin was pale, she was wearing black pants, and had on a long shirt.

She watched Sakura in silence.

"Are you Sakura Haruno, the apprentice of my old friend Tsunade Senju?"

"I am. Are you Tsukiko?"

"Correct. I'm happy to finally to meet you, Sakura. Tsunade has told me a lot about you and praised you as her student."

Sakura blushed a bit, moving in unease. She heard Saki murmuring something, but she didn't listen, she was focused on the woman before her. She was beautiful. She had a slim and curvy body with her hair resting on her shoulders.

Her eyes were filled with curiously and admiration. For what, Sakura had no clue.

"Well, then shall we move forward? We still have quite a bit to go before we are there, but I assure you, it's not too far."

Sakura nodded and together they headed towards Ice Mountain.

Another hour went by and they arrived. To Sakura's surprise, there was a cave. She hadn't thought that there were caves in this mountain because she had been told Ice Mountain was a place not many people went to considering the cold weather.

"What are we doing here?" Sakura asked, unsure of the cave. She wasn't fond of entering caves. It always ended with trouble.

"Don't worry, it's safe, however, there is something you should know. We are not alone here, there is an animal which lives on this mountain, but don't worry; they won't attack you unless I tell them to do so."

Sakura looked at Tsukiko warily.

"What do you mean?"

Tsukiko smiled, and turned around, facing Sakura.

"Sakura, what I am about to tell you is a secret, and I know you will keep this, right?"

Sakura nodded, "Of course, it won't leave my mouth."

Tsukiko nodded.

"Good, now let me explain. There is pack of wolfs living here, however, I am a part of their pack. I have the ability to change my form from human to wolf. These wolfs are called ice crystal wolfs. They can use chakra, however, we mainly use it for medical and sealing jutsu. Only by touch, these wolfs can heal any wounds and they can seal whatever they want except for tailed beasts, of course."

Tsukiko walked around, moving around Sakura.

"Sakura, I have an offer for you, and I hope you will consider it. I want to offer you the chance to get a summon contract with the crystal wolfs."

A large, blue-white wolf with ice crystals hanging in its fur appeared from the shadows of the cave. It was carrying a big scroll and Tsukiko lifted it up from the wolf's back.

"Thank you, Yuuki."

The wolf moved away from Tsukiko and turned its eyes to Sakura. It was eyeing her, but not with a cautious look. It was a friendly look.

Sakura tilted her head causally.

"Tsunade spoke of your history to me, and I thought it would be good for you to have this chance to get the summoning contract. After all, the crystal wolf is a rare summon animal and very few know about them. Please follow me and we can sit down, and discuss about this."

Sakura nodded and followed Tsukiko and the wolf.

_"Creepy, well, I can understand why so few do know about them since they are living in a cave on a mountain of snow and ice."_

_"Sarcasm once again. Stop that, will you? Sakura doesn't need you to give her a headache all the time. Not even I knew about the crystal wolf summoning. This a one time chance for Sakura to learn something no one can teach her except Tsukiko."_

Sakura smiled a bit, Minato was was right. This was a one time opportunity for her to learn something special like this.

"Tsukiko, how come we arrived here so quickly? Tsunade-sama thought it would take a day, not hours for me to come here."

Tsukiko smiled apologetically.

"Well, unfortunately I had to lie about the locations. I have to make sure no one knows about this location, and we have taken another route which was shorter, but only I know about this route. If you had continued forward, it would had taken you at least a day to come here, but you would have come to the other side of the mountain. I decided to meet you halfway so that you wouldn't need go that far."

Tsukiko walked deeper into the cave with Sakura following her. Soon enough, it seemed that they were about to get out of the cave since Sakura saw light.

"Where are we?" Sakura asked.

"We are inside the mountain. The cave in here is like a secret place for the wolfs and I. We live here peacefully without having anyone disturb us. If people knew about the wolfs, many shinobi would hunt them down until there is no left."

Tsukiko sat down on a rock and so did Sakura.

"Sakura, would you accept the contact of the crystal wolf summon?"

Sakura smiled, "Of course, I would be honored to accept it."

Tsukiko chuckled, opened the scroll, unrolled it.

"I assume Tsunade gave you the slug contract, right?"

"She did."

"All right, it works the same way, you write your name in blood on this scroll. However, unlike with the slug summoning, you also have to have this."

Tsukiko pulled out a necklace with an ice crystal on it.

"You put the blood on the crystal, do the hand seals, and put your hand on the ground. That's all you need to do."

Sakura nodded and did as Tsukiko said, writing her name on the scroll with blood.

"Good, now it's time for you to choose your wolf."

Sakura blinked, "Are you serious, am I going to be allowed to pick one wolf?"

Tsukiko nodded.

"Of course, come on, let's go and meet the wolfs."

Tsukiko whistled. At first there were only silence, but then Sakura started to notice and hear footsteps coming. Looking up, she gasped.

All around them stood a huge group of crystal wolfs watching them.

"They are beautiful." Sakura whispered.

"They sure are, beautiful and dangerous. They are powerful in combat."

Sakura looked around; she itched to get closer to the wolfs, but wasn't sure if she could go any closer.

"Its all right, you can go closer to them, they won't hurt you. They know that you will pick one of them to be your summon animal. They are all loyal and won't leave your side on the battlefield."

Sakura was awestruck. She had no idea how to pick one of them.

"Sorry, can't help you with this either, I am just as awestruck as you are."

"How am I supposed to choose?"

"I know, it's hard, they are all amazing."

Sakura looked at them and saw a wolf with dark blue fur and white crystals. There was something about that wolf that drew Sakura towards her.

"Her." Sakura said, pointing at the wolf with dark blue fur and white crystals.

"Good choice, that is Kiyomi. She will be a great partner for you. She is probably the most loyal of all the wolfs."

Kiyomi walked forward to Sakura and sniffed at her. Suddenly, Kiyomi stood on her hind paws and her front paws landed on Sakura's shoulders. Kiyomi started to lick Sakura.

"Hey! Hahaha stop! It tickles!" Sakura yelped, laughing.

Tsukiko smiled and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I have a feeling that she likes you already, Sakura." Tsukiko laughed, shaking her head.

Kiyomi kept licking Sakura on her face, and for the rest of the day, Sakura bonded with Kiyomi and the rest of the wolfs.

**To be continued**

My longest chapter yet, hope you like it. I don't have much to say about this chapter, please R&R people.

And thank you, Westwindwaker, for helping.


	16. Chapter 16

We're Tied Together by Our Souls

_"Blabla"_ Saki speaking when Sakura is awake

_"Blabla"_ = Minato speaking when Sakura is awake

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 16

It had been a week since Sakura had arrived to Ice Mountain. She and Kiyomi had bonded over this time and Tsukiko thought it would be good for them to start doing some training together, in which Tsukiko explained about positive and negative chakra.

Sakura meditated,with Kiyomi next to her.

After Tsukiko had explained about positive and negative chaka being similar to natural chakra, Sakura had asked her if the wolfs had something similar to the toads senjutsu.

"There is something similar to the senjutsu the toad sages are using, however, this is more complicated, since positive and negative chakra is more dangerous than natural chakra. if you don't have the control, the positive and negative chakra will consume you and you will go mad. The technique is called ŌkamiSenjutsu. It's difficult to learn but if you have the charka control and can master it, it will strengthen your senses, your speed and strength. Your hearing will be just as good as the wolfs', the only thing which will give you away when you are using this, are your eyes. Your eyes will be sharpen, and be just like the wolfs'."

After telling Sakura that, Tsukiko had left Sakura alone to meditate. Tsukiko had offered Sakura the opportunity to learn it.

Sakura was tempted to agree to the offer to learn the techniques, but wasn't sure, so she needed some help and decided to ask Saki and Minato.

In her mind

"I say, let's do it! How awesome would that be? Coming back to the village and showing everyone you have gotten stronger."

"It seems difficult to learn, but it would certainly be useful, if you are up to it. I'll support whatever decision you take." Minato said, looking over to Sakura who had entered her mind by meditating.

Sakura nodded. "I'm not sure, considering the risks."

"Well, you can't get any more insane than you already are Sakura. I mean, come on, who else has people in their mind like you do? Sure, one of us was sealed here for an unknown reason, but still."

"Hey!" Minato protested, glaring at Saki.

"How come you like annoy him so much, Saki?"

Saki grimaced towards Minato but stopped and turned her attention to Sakura. "I don't know, he is easy to frustrate. He gets worked up for nothing. You should try, its fun."

"No thanks."

"Thank you." Minato sighed and laid back down.

"Hmm, are you getting tired? Do you need a nap?" Saki taunted, grinning when Minato ignored her.

"Stop being so mean to him, will you?" Sakura scolded Saki who just shrugged.

"You should focus on what you should do. Are you going take Tsukiko up on her offer?"

"I think I will do so, actually."

"Good, it will do you good." Sakura raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"Then I guess I will leave you two alone now."

Minato sat up.

"So it does take her leaving to get your attention, Blondie." Saki grinned.

Sakura grimaced, "You do realize that there are two blondies here right now?"

Saki grinned "Of course I do, but you aren't fully a blondie. Yet" Sakura and Minato glared at her. "What's wrong with you people? Getting worked up for one word, can you explain that?"

"Come on, Saki. It's not funny and you know it."

Saki sighed and gave Sakura a look. "Shouldn't you leave and start focus on your training with Tsukiko?"

"Sounds like someone wants me out of here." Sakura joked which earned a glare from Saki.

"Very funny, Sakura. Just leave me here with the Blondie over there." Saki pointed at Minato who rolled his eyes. When she didn't get any answer from anyone, Saki threw her hands in the air and stomped away from them.

"Someone has a temper." Minato remarked as he walked up to Sakura.

"You think? I can't tell, I'm used to her mood swings." Sakura turned to Minato and saw him staring at her. "Something wrong?"

"No."

"So what's with the staring?"

"Well, I'm getting used to you having blond hair. Somehow it suits you."

"Really? Well thank you, I'll take that as a compliment"

"Well, you should." Minato replied. Sakura looked away, knowing full well that she would get stuck in his blue eyes. He was too handsome for his own good and he didn't know that. It seemed that he had no clue as to why every girl would stare at him. Sakura had noticed Saki sitting and staring at him a few times, and she had felt rather disturbed for an unknown reason, but she couldn't blame her. Minato was a very attractive man. And having him so close by didn't help either.

Minato, sensing Sakura's unease, put his hand on her shoulder in a comforting manner. "Something wrong?"

"No, nothing is wrong." Sakura said a little too quickly.

Minato raised an eyebrow. Now he was concerned.

"You look worried about something, you answered a little too quickly there, you know?" Sakura inwardly cursed Saki for leaving her alone with Minato. Now she was stuck there with him.

She shrugged, smiling slightly. "It's nothing, I promise. If something is bothering me, I will tell you. "

"Are you sure? You know I will listen if you want to talk."

Sakura nodded, "I am sure, don't worry about it. There is nothing wrong." Sakura tried to relax, but it was kind of impossible. She was nervous.

"Sakura, you're trembling." Minato touched her cheek, making her jump a bit, but Minato let his other hand rest on her shoulder and firmly held her still. Sakura tried to move away, taking a step backwards but Minato followed. However, he didn't pay any attention as to where he put his foot, so he lost his balance and tripped. Sakura, seeing him fall, reached out to steady him. However, out of reflex, Minato let his arms wrap around her and brought her down with him.

This made them end in a rather interesting... position.

Sakura who had closed her eyes in the fall, felt something soft press against her lips. Sakura had a dreadful feeling and a part of her didn't want to open her eyes.

Saki who had just come back, stopped in her tracks and slowly moved backwards silently without being noticed by the other two. She hid behind a tree and tried to hold back a giggle. The scene she walked in was hilarious. Minato was on top of Sakura, on the ground kissing. 'I wish I had a camera so that I could take a picture.' Saki thought, grinning wickedly.

She tilted her head and looked at them briefly, wondering how long they would lay like that.

Suddenly, Minato moved away, making Saki 'aw' in disappointment. Deciding it was time to reveal herself, Saki walked out from her hiding place, trying to wipe the grin off her face.

"Hello, what's going on here?" Saki asked innocently. Sakura and Minato looked at each other, but looked away just as quickly and blushed. Sakura got up and muttered something, she would come back later. She disappeared which meant she stopped meditating.

Saki looked at Minato, her arms crossed over her chest, grinning. "What's the matter with that blush Blondie, care to share?" Minato just glared at her and said nothing.

"Oh come on, talk already, it's not like I didn't see it. I saw you two on the ground, your lips pressed against each other's."

"It's not like that, I slipped and accidently pulled Sakura down with me, it was an accident."

"Oh come on, just admit you liked it. Didn't you?"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore, please drop it." Minato said, sounding tired.

Saki sighed, the blonde was a stubborn man, and she knew that. She had a feeling that Minato had growing feelings for Sakura and vice versa, but they weren't aware of it. She thought it was her duty to help them realize it.

"Fine, but remember, if you want to talk about it, I will listen. I won't make any funny comments or rude remarks, I promise." Minato looked at Saki, shocked to hear that, but smiled.

"Thank you, Saki, it's good to know."

"You're welcome, Minato. I'm just curious, how did it felt? Oh come on, just tell me already. I can see it, a small part of you enjoyed that, right?" Minato snorted and shot her a death glare, but Saki ignored him. She planned about how she could get Sakura to spill about what she felt about that little accident.

With Sakura

Sakura opened her eyes, and stopped meditating. Kiyomi looked up and saw a light blush on her face.

"Hey Kiyomi, sorry for keeping you waiting." Sakura said softly and stroked her dark blue fur gently. Kiyomi growled softly, but rubbed her head against Sakura's hand.

"She really likes you." Tsukiko said, coming from the cave opening. Sakura looked up and saw her coming towards her and Kiyomi.

"It seems so, but am I glad she likes me."

Tsukiko nodded "Have you considered my offer to teach you ŌkamiSenjutsu?"

Sakura looked up from Kiyomi and nodded, "I accept. I would be honored to learn it."

Tsukiko smiled gently, but frowned when she saw Sakura was frowning.

"What's the matter, dear?" Tsukiko sat down beside Sakura and looked with concern at the young girl beside her.

"Nothing, I just ended my meditation, that's all."

Tsukiko studied her in silence for a moment. She noticed that Sakura didn't want to talk about it, so she wouldn't push her to talk about it. If she wanted to talk, she would when she was ready.

"All right, but if there is something you want to talk about, I am here and will listen to you if you want that." Sakura eyes widened in shock, but she relaxed and nodded.

"Thank you so much, I will have that in mind. So, when can we start training if I may ask?"

Tsukiko chuckled, "You seem to be ready to start anytime, however, I need to visit Tsunade-sama before our training starts, so we will head back to Konoha and can have our training outside the village, or where Tsunade thinks would be great place to train. This training will take time and I wouldn't want to keep you away from Tsunade too long. So, by coming with you to the village, I can train you there and Tsunade doesn't need to worry about you. I know she sees you as a daughter. You are very important to her."

"And she is to me." Sakura answered. Her eyes softened while she thought about her shishou.

"All right then, so when will we leave?"

"As soon as my partner is ready." Just as she finished talking, a big wolf with white fur and dark blue crystals hanging in its fur started coming towards them.

"Hello, Tamotsu, are you ready?" The big wolf growled, making Tsukiko chuckle. "Good. When you two are ready to leave we can go to Konoha."

"Let's go."

Tsukiko rose on her feet and Sakura followed her. They went to get Sakura's bag. It was time for them to head towards Konoha.

Meanwhile somewhere else

Tsunade glared at the blonde shinobi who was standing around complaining about the missions she was giving him. She had thought Jiraiya had taught him some sense, but apparently he hadn't, which was a shame. Naruto had needed someone who could teach him some manners. For example: he needed to stop calling her old.

"Baa-chan when is Sakura-chan going to come back from the mission you gave her?!"

"For the last time Naruto, stop asking that. I don't know how long it will take her before she will be back. As far as I know, she might be on her way home right now. Kakashi, please take your student out of here. Get him some ramen or something so he will calm down. He is giving me a headache and I don't need that right now."

Kakashi looked a bit sorry for his leader, she looked tired and having Naruto here complaining about missions and asking when Sakura will come back is bound to get annoying for the blonde Hokage.

"Of course, Tsunade-sama. Come on, Naruto, I will buy you some ramen and maybe we'll run into Hinata, and if we do, we can always ask her to join us. I have noticed that you have spent time with her since you've come back, are you finally noticing her feelings for you?"

"Huh? What are you talking about Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, looking clueless, making a sweat drop appear on the back of Kakashi's head.

"Never mind that, forget what I asked. Anyways, let's get some lunch, I bet you are hungry and after we have eaten, we can do some training."

"Really?! That would be awesome, Kakashi-sensei!"

They left Tsunade alone in her office with all the paperwork. Sighing, Tsunade stared lazily out through the windows and over the village. Her eyes wandered over to the Hokage Mountain, a smile appearing on her lips.

"Well, maybe someday that kid can become Hokage if he keeps it up like he has done." Tsunade whispered more to herself than to anyone in particular. Suddenly, Shizune came in running, breathing short, fast breaths. "Tsunade-sama! Jiraiya-sama is peeping on the women in the hot spring again."

"WHAT?! Damn that pervert, hasn't he learned anything about what happens to him when I am in the village?" Tsunade stormed out of the office, leaving Shizune alone.

Soon, everyone in the village could hear a man screaming in pain, running for his life from their Hokage. An outsider would find this strange, however, since Tsunade became Hokage, everyone in Konoha had gotten used to seeing Jiraiya the Sannin running from getting the life beat out of him by Tsunade, which also gave all the woman the sign it was all right to go to the hot springs and enjoy it without having to fear a pervert peeking on them. It was a common thing in Konoha, after all, they had seen stranger things. Having Uzumaki Naruto in the village, had made most of the villagers in Konoha get used to strange things. After all, how common is it that a kid who had been in the academy and pranked almost everyone in the village, was able to outrun Chunnin, Jounin and sometimes even ANBU? Konoha was certainly used to strange things.

Back to Sakura

Sakura and Tsukiko were headed towards Konoha. They would be arriving in a couple of hours with the speed they were keeping right now. Sakura had no problem keeping up with Tsukiko and her partner. They travelled in silence, which Sakura didn't mind. She had a lot on her mind right now, and it seems Minato had taken the time to find somewhere in her mind to hide, probably feeling awkward after the accident that had happen earlier. Saki however, said nothing about it, claiming that she had seen nothing, but Sakura knew her better and guessed that Saki had seen the whole thing, and had been hiding somewhere where she hadn't been seen. It was very typical of Saki.

Sakura narrowed her eyes, she had a feeling Saki was plotting something as well, she had that special look whenever she planned something. Usually Sakura wasn't the victim, so she had never been nervous around Saki when she had been in that mood, however, now she shivered every time she heard Saki in her mind, muttering about something.

"Hey, is something wrong?" Tsukiko asked, looking back. Sakura was brought out of her musings and shook her head. "No, everything is all right. I'm just thinking about a lot of things."

Tsukiko said nothing, she only nodded and turned her head back, so that she was looking forward.

Sakura smiled. Tsukiko was just like Tsunade, she checked up on her whenever Sakura was deep in her thoughts, trying to get her to talk about them, if she had any problem.

She was grateful for being able to meet Tsukiko, she was a kind, nice, wonderful woman. However, Sakura had a feeling that Tsukiko could be cold, cruel, and hard, just like any other shinobi.

Sakura reminded herself to get Tsunade a bottle of sake in gratitude for letting her go on this "mission" as she had called it.

Soon, they were in Konoha and Sakura prayed silently that Naruto hadn't turned the village up and down, knowing how her teammate could be when he was restless. You never know what to expect when Naruto is bored. You know one thing at least: All hell breaks out.

**To be continued**

Chapter 16 is finished already, this story is fast to write. Thank you all for reviewing, people. Your reviews are making my day and inspired me to write this chapter.

Aw…the first awkward moment between Sakura and Minato, well it had to happen sooner or later, right? R&R people, and of course I had help from Westwindwaker.


	17. Chapter 17

We're Tied Together by Our Souls

_"Blabla"_ Saki speaking when Sakura is awake

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 17

When Sakura and Tsukiko arrived outside the gates of Konoha, someone called out to Sakura.

"Sakura, you're back!" Sakura turned her head and saw Hinata running towards her.

Sakura smiled brightly at seeing her friend, "Hi Hinata! Did you miss me?"

"Of course I have, Sakura, and so has Naruto. He has been a pain in the ass for Tsunade-sama lately. Only when Kakashi tells him that they'll get some ramen will Naruto stop annoying Tsunade-sama." Hinata giggled.

Sakura just shook her head, and then she remembered Tsukiko.

"It was good to see you, but Tsukiko and I need to see Tsunade-sama."

Hinata nodded in understanding.

"See you later then."Hinata left.

Sakura and Tsukiko continued their way to Hokage Tower. When they arrived, they saw Shizune coming out of Tsunade's office.

"Shizune!" Sakura called out to the older woman. She had taught Sakura about poison and antidotes, about how to create and cure poisons.

"Sakura, you're back! We didn't expect to see you so soon, Tsunade-sama will be happy to see you."

Sakura just rolled her eyes, "Don't tell me she has missed me already."

"She has. Naruto has been pestering her constantly since you left." Sakura snorted.

"See you later Shizune, I have to calm down Shishou if Naruto has been around and annoying her." Sakura went to the door with Tsukiko following. Sakura knocked on the door and walked in. She saw Tsunade sitting with a bottle of sake. "I guess you're getting tired of Naruto?"

Tsunade looked up and saw Sakura and Tsukiko standing at the door. "Sakura, Tsukiko?! You're back?!" Tsunade stood up and walked up to her apprentice and hugged her. "Welcome back." Tsunade looked at Tsukiko and had a big grin on her face. "Tsukiko, if I knew you were coming, I would have prepared myself."

Tsukiko snickered, "Don't worry, Tsunade. I just decided on my own that I would follow Sakura back to Konoha, knowing you, you wouldn't be able to relax not knowing where your student was, so I came up with the idea to come here and train Sakura. It doesn't matter where we train since Sakura has now chosen a wolf and signed the summon contract."

Tsunade nodded. "It's good to know."

Sakura frowned, she sensed there was something Tsunade didn't tell her, and she didn't like it. "What's the matter Tsunade-sama? Is there something wrong?"

Tsunade went back to her desk and sat down in the chair. She sighed and looked back at them seriously. "Nothing but rumors, Sakura. We aren't sure if they are true or not, however, considering who the rumors are about, the village is on high alert and the council is trying to convince me to not send Naruto on any mission which requires leaving the village."

"So, it's about the Akatsuki then?" Sakura guessed, and by seeing the defeated look Tsunade had on her face she knew she had been right. "Well, it just means that we have to be more cautious on the missions we are on. There is no way you will be able keep Naruto in the village. He will go nuts and come here and demand a mission outside the village."

"You're right, Sakura, but I trust Kakashi to keep Naruto in line. Speaking of which, I talked with Jiraiya before you left and he agreed to teach you more about seals. However, knowing Tsukiko is here, I know your knowledge of seals will be big. You are still the sealing master in your group, right Tsukiko?"

Tsukiko smirked. "The best. I always will be unless Sakura here surpasses me."

"Somehow I have no doubts about that." Tsunade remarked, smiling.

Tsukiko turned to Sakura. "Sakura, why don't you go home and get rested and refreshed. I need to have a word with Tsunade and we can see each other later and decide how to start with our training, like what kind of seals we should focus on in the beginning."

"That sounds good, see you later Tsunade-sama." Tsunade waved and Sakura left the office leaving the older women alone in the office.

"So, what do you think about her, Tsukiko?" Tsunade asked, her head resting in her hands, her arms on the table.

"I like her, she has some of your temper deep down. From what I could tell, she has perfect chakra control, and she is a quick learner. However, she doesn't believe in herself. She has difficulty taking encouragement from others."

Tsunade sighed and decided to tell Tsukiko the whole story.

"Sakura's teammates were not so good for her, and her sensei wasn't either. He ignored her for her male teammates and she was left behind. Never once did she get encourage from others before she started to train under me. She only had perfect chakra control, but nothing more."

Tsukiko frowned and sat down. "No wonder she never mentioned a lot about her teammates. I wouldn't either if I had a team who treated me like that."

She looked to Tsunade, "How badly has this affected her psyche and mentally?"

Tsunade shook her head, "Sakura is a strong willed girl, she has a strong mind and pulled through. However, there is another event you should be aware of. About one and a half years ago, we found out that Sakura was from the Haruno clan, and that 'her parents' turned out to be her aunt and uncle. They had killed her real parents and not only that, they had made a deal with Danzo and let him seal her gift since they weren't able to use it for their own benefit."

Tsukiko's eyes widened, her hand reaching up to her mouth. "That's terrible. I have heard about that family, but I thought they had all been killed."

"There is another thing I need to talk about, however, this is a classified subject, so you can't speak about this with anyone, unless its with me, Sakura or my teammate Jiraiya. He knows about this too, and he has also agreed to help Sakura with seals. You know Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze?"

Tsukiko nodded "The Yellow Flash, I heard a lot about him during the war. He was feared by many shinobi."

"He was, and as you might know he died sealing the Kyuubi in an new born baby. Somehow, his soul was sealed within Sakura's mind. How that happened, we don't know. Sakura is able to communicate with him in her mind. Somehow, she got his chakra reserves and some of his DNA, which turned her hair from pink to yellow."

"Wow, I had never imagined that something like this might happen. I have never heard about something like this happening. How does she handle it?"

"Rather well, I think. They get along, with no problems that I know of. Sometimes he gives Sakura a headache, but she can handle it."

Tsukiko shook her head.

Meanwhile with Sakura

Sakura got home, put her bag in her bedroom, and went to the bathroom to take a shower. Half an hour later, Sakura was sitting on the coach and reading, with a cup of tea in her hand.

_"Hey, what's wrong with Blondie?"_

Sakura sighed, of course Saki would come and disturb her now.

"I have no clue, why are you asking?"

"_Well, he is nervous and gets even more nervous when I say your name. You should go see him, he kind of gets this blush on his face, like he is remembering something embarrassing. Do you know anything?"_

"Well, you should know about it already, you being a part of me, remember?" Sakura muttered, reading.

_"Oh…do you mean about that little accident between you two, where he tripped and you two fell and accidentally kissed each other? It's too bad that I didn't have a camera then. That was something worth remembering."_

Sakura stopped reading. Her cheeks gotten warm, but she refused to acknowledge it.

"You saw it, and you haven't mention it until now?"

_"Naw, I decided to be nice, you know. Even I know when to stop with the teasing. I think you need to talk with Blondie, I mean he refuses to talk with me, and it's getting boring to have no one to talk with when you're busy."_

Sakura sighed and put down the book. She knew Saki wouldn't drop this subject anytime soon. She seemed to be truly concerned about Minato not talking with her.

Closing her eyes, Sakura meditated.

In Sakura's Mind

Sakura opened her eyes and saw that she was in her mind.

Saki was sitting under a tree looking bored. She looked up and saw Sakura.

"Wow that was quick. I should probably stay here while you go and find Blondie. He seemed very upset over something."

"Wow, that's nice. You're not coming with me to torment Minato for something which wasn't his fault?"

"No, like I said, I know when to not tease or annoy. Go and find the Blondie."

Sakura nodded and walked away from Saki to locate Minato, who seemed to have disappeared.

"Where are you Minato?" Sakura murmured, looking around. She had been walking for a while when she heard something not too far from where she was. Following the sound, Sakura saw Minato standing at a lake, watching the water. He seemed to be deep in his thoughts and she didn't want to disturb him, so she studied him from where she was standing.

His bangs shifted slightly every time he moved. She would have guessed that he was doing some chakra practice to keep his skills intact. Not that she could blame him, it must be boring to be stuck in someone else's head and be unable to do anything, not even being able to talk to his son.

A pang of pain struck her heart. She had found out that Naruto was Minato's son thanks to Tsunade. She thought it was unfair to keep such a secret from Naruto. To not know who his parents were must be the most painful thing a child could feel. Feeling abandoned, and not loved, when it wasn't so. His parents loved him enough that they were ready to die for him when he was only an hour old.

It wasn't fair. How could such things happen? Why didn't the people of Konoha see the resemblance between Naruto and the Fourth Hokage? Were they so blinded by their hatred for the Kyuubi that they refused to acknowledge this fact? The shinobi world was truly cruel.

Sakura snapped out of her thoughts when Minato moved away from the lake, still having his back towards her. Sakura decided it was time to confront him, it hadn't been his fault about what had happened, it had been an accident. Minato was probably just like his son, too stubborn to see that.

"What are you doing there? You're making Saki worried when you are hiding yourself like this." Sakura said causally, making Minato jump, which made Sakura smirk a bit. She had managed to take Minato, the Fourth Hokage by surprise.

This was unheard of, no one had been able to do that while he were alive, at least that was what Tsunade had told her. Sakura wasn't sure if she believed that, Kushina Uzumaki was probably able to take him by surprise.

Minato turned around and saw Sakura learning against a tree, amused by his reaction.

"What makes you say that?" he asked, frowning.

"Well, you have been nowhere to be seen when I have been around, and Saki commented about your "disappearance" without any funny, sarcastic comments. This says a lot because she usually does that when it comes to you for some reason. So, why're you hiding?" Sakura asked, smirking, seeing Minato move in unease.

"I wasn't hiding." Minato protested which made Sakura grin more.

"Really? Now why do I not believe that? Can it be because of you tripped and accidentally brought me down with you? Because it wasn't your fault, stranger things have happened to me, considering my teammate is a reckless knuckle head who gets himself in trouble at anytime."

Sakura shook her head. Minato sighed and smiled. He should have known that Naruto had gotten a lot of Kushina's brash nature. She had a bad habit of jumping into situations without thinking, so he shouldn't be so surprised that Naruto was like that too.

"Sakura, I'm sorry for…" Minato started, but Sakura interrupted him.

"Don't apologize for something that wasn't your fault, Minato. It was an accident. Let it go and stop hiding because of it. I do not blame you for that, you know." Sakura said softly, her head slightly tilted, with her arms behind her.

The blonde hair falling slightly over her face made Minato awestruck for a moment. She looked very cute right now.

Minato shook his head, trying to clear it, smiling as he eyed the female shinobi in front of him. She had grown a lot, and no longer looked like a girl, but like a woman. Secretly, he was happy that she had decided not to cut her hair again and had let it grow out. It suited her so much better than short hair.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at him, its seemed that Minato was staring at her hair again. Why he found it so fascinating, she had no clue. Feeling brave, Sakura moved closer to Minato.

"How come you are staring at my hair? It can't be that interesting."

Minato shrugged and reached out to softly catch a lock of her hair, and held it between his fingers. Sakura didn't move, she just let him play with the hair since he found it so interesting.

"Beautiful." Minato sighed softly. Sakura didn't meet his eyes, instead she looked away with a light blush on her face. Minato kept playing with her hair. He rolled the hair around his finger, pulling slightly on it, making Sakura turn her head back, so that she was facing him. Sakura did her best to relax, and she found herself doing just that. There was something about this situation, with Minato playing with her hair like this, that made her relax in his presence. It was a comforting feeling. She enjoyed it, just by standing there silently.

Soon, Sakura found herself getting tired, standing there relaxing was making her drowsy. Minato must have noticed it, because he started to speak softly to her, but Sakura didn't hear what he said, so she just murmured something that Minato probably didn't catch. She heard him chuckle and then she felt an arm wrapped around her waist, guiding her to somewhere. Sakura opened her eyes and saw a tree. She was pulled down beside Minato who was still holding his arm around her waist, however, he moved it as soon as she was comfortable beside him and he let his finger move back to her hair. Sakura chuckled, earning a curious look from Minato.

"What's so funny about my hair?" Sakura asked tiredly. Minato didn't answer instantly, there was a moment of silence before he spoke.

"Well, I like your hair, its pretty and unique. I don't know anyone who has pink hair."

"Well, it's becoming more blond than pink." Sakura said.

"True, but pink will always be your original hair color."

"I hated that, you know? My hair being pink." Sakura muttered.

"Why?" Minato looked down at her. Sakura shrugged.

"Probably because of my childhood, I was teased a lot because of my hair and my forehead."

Minato nodded, he was distracted by other thoughts at the moment, and was unaware that he had started to roll her hair around his finger even more. Sakura, however, started to notice it.

"You're going be stuck in my hair if you keep rolling my hair around your fingers, Minato." Sakura spoke up, looking up at him.

Minato didn't answer her instantly, but when he did, it caught Sakura off guard.

"You should rest, Sakura, you're tired from your trip to Ice Mountain and back to Konoha. Sleep, you need it." Minato said, looking down at the young woman beside him. "You're tired and will fall asleep at any moment."

Sakura wanted to argue, but he was right. She was tired and about to fall asleep, but she needed to know for certain.

"Did you come here to hide because you were embarrassed to see me after what happened?" Sakura asked, her eyes closing. She heard Minato sigh.

"A little." He answered honestly which brought a smile to Sakura's face.

"Don't worry, I don't blame you, it was a accident so no hard feelings, I promise."

Minato felt something resting on his shoulder and saw that Sakura had her head on his shoulder, and that she had fallen asleep. Minato smiled and made himself comfortable where he was sitting. He wouldn't able to move until Sakura woke up, he didn't have the heart to disturb her now that she was sleeping. He had no places to be, so he could just sit there and let Sakura use him as her pillow, not that he minded. However, it seemed it wasn't only Sakura who was tired, but Minato himself. Soon enough, Minato felt exhaustion washing over him and soon he had fallen asleep as well.

**To be continued...**

Aw… they fell asleep. And guess what, people? Chapter 17 is finished! None of my other stories have been going as smoothly as this. I bet you are all happy for me updating this story so quickly. Maybe a little too quickly... Perhaps I should let you suffer and wait for a couple of days before the next chapter comes out? Hahaha of course not, what kind of an author would I be if I did that? Of course, it depends on you as well, so please leave a review for me. I appreciate reviews my your lovely readers, and of course am I grateful for my beta Westwindwaker. I can't take all credit, now can I? I'll see you all in the next chapter, people!


	18. Chapter 18

We're Tied Together by Our Souls

"Blabla" Saki speaking when Sakura is awake

"Blabla" Minato speaking when Sakura is awake

Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto

Chapter 18

Sakura woke up to someone knocking on her door, she looked around confused and realized she was in her apartment. The knocking on the door increased, much to her annoyance. Whoever woke her up had better pray for their lives because she was not in the mood for some lame excuse. She threw open the door and prepared herself to give the person who disturbed her sleep the beating of his or her life. Sakura realized it was none other than Naruto. Typical, he must have found out from either Tsunade or Hinata.

"You better have a good reason for waking me up from my nap," Sakura muttered while giving Naruto a half-hearted glare which Naruto, of course, ignored.

"Sakura-Chan, you're back! I'm glad! Kakashi-sensei is driving me insane, and so is Pervert-sage! Please help me Sakura. I couldn't find Hinata, and I heard you were back. So, I thought you could help me!" Naruto wailed while hugging Sakura around the waist. Sakura sighed but chuckled. She couldn't help it. She had never been able to stay mad at Naruto for long, but sometimes he really pushes her buttons and gets the best of her fists. However, she is not so cruel that she leaves him injured. After asking if he understands why, she heals him and then they are good. Naruto usually laughs it off after he has been healed.

But he has been getting better at dodging her fists which is a good sign for him. Unfortunately for Sakura, it also means she needs to work harder to get a hit on him.

"All right, fine. I'll help you. Now, where is Kakashi-sensei so I can beat the crap out of him? What has he done to you, anyway?"

"He is always mentioning Hinata while we are training. And whenever we are going to eat ramen, he seems to try to find her and gets her to join us!"

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "And this is bad because…?"

Naruto looked up at Sakura. "Sakura-Chan, I'm confused. You see, Hinata has been acting strange around me."

Sakura blinked. Frowning, she asked, "How strange?"

"She's not fainting as much she did before, and she talks to me without stuttering. She does blush still, but I don't know why," Naruto exclaimed, making Sakura chuckle.

"Naruto, has it ever occurred to you that Hinata might be interested in you," Sakura asked while looking at her blonde idiot of a teammate. She saw him like a brother, so in a way, he was her idiot.

"What do you mean? Do you mean that she might…"

"Like you? Oh Naruto, I don't want to ruin the surprise, but the big question is, what do you think about her," Sakura asked while giving him a suggestive grin. Naruto's eyes widened, looking shocked by her statement.

"What?! Sakura-Chan?!" he exclaimed making her laugh. "Don't worry Naruto. Don't think too much on it. You might hurt yourself, and that is something we don't want," Sakura said which made him pout. Sakura removed his arms from her and made him move. "What's troubling you now, my little blondie?"

"Sakura? Are you serious that Hinata might like me?"

Sakura sighed and walked back in to her apartment with Naruto following her.

"Sit," Sakura ordered as she sat down at the table and watched him do the same.

"Naruto, what exactly has happened while I have been gone?"

"Well, thanks to Kakashi-sensei and Pervert-sage, Hinata amnd I have been meeting every day and eating lunch together. Hell, we even trained together one day! Can you believe that? I never thought sweet kind Hinata could do so much damage. She actually blocked off my chakra just like Neji did back in the chunnin exam! Remember? Well, Hinata did the same, but she was working on her own style. At least, that's what she told me."

Sakura smiled. "Have you finally started to notice things you should have noticed before you went on that training trip?"

Naruto sighed and looked seriously at her. "Sakura, I don't know how she could have feelings for me."

Sakura frowned and leaned forward. "Naruto, Hinata likes you for you being yourself and nothing more. She doesn't need you to pretend to be someone you're not. She is just happy that you are you. Nothing more, nothing less."

Naruto relaxed slightly. "You think so?"

Sakura couldn't help but feel sorry for him. During most of his childhood, Naruto had been alone. He had no one waiting for him at home. No one who could help him with his academy lessons. No one who would pick him up after school was over. He had always been lonely until they were put on team 7. She, Sasuke and Kakashi became his family. Sasuke was like an annoying brother for Naruto; however, he was also his best friend who encouraged him to get stronger. Kakashi was kind of like a father figure. Sort of… Okay, she wasn't sure. But then, there was her. The sister. She sees him like a brother. He is her family. It was kind of ironic, all of them had lost their parents, but she had not been aware that she had lost her's until a year ago.

"I don't think so, I know so. Believe me, she would never hurt you. Hinata is a kind hearted girl. She is good for you, maybe she can teach you some common sense," Sakura joked making Naruto chuckle.

"Sakura, you're mean."

"So what's going on?"

Naruto looked up, like he remembered something. "Oh wait, there's something I found out during my training! Pervert-sage knew my parents!" Naruto said excitedly.

Sakura tensed, "Really?"

"And not only that, he also told me he was supposed to be my godfather, and he explained why he hadn't been in the village or there for me." Sakura was taken by surprise. She hadn't thought Jiraiya had told Naruto that. Unbelievable.

"Well that's amazing Naruto; however, I don't know if I would be so excited knowing the biggest pervert who has ever walked on this earth is your godfather. Not to be mean or anything, but how much attention did he actually give you while you were training for the chunnin exam? Didn't he peep on the women in the hot springs while you were doing the water walking exercise?"

Naruto laughed and shook his head. "Well, all right, pervert-sage does have his faults, but who doesn't? No one is perfect, right?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"True" Sakura agreed. "Now, I need to go out. Do you want to go with me, or are you planning to see Hinata," Sakura teased.

Naruto grumbled but followed Sakura out of the apartment. Sakura locked the door after them, and they headed out.

"You do realize, I will get Hinata to spill everything about your meetings when I see her, right?" Sakura grinned.

"Sakura, why would you do that?!"

"She is my best friend, and we share everything. Don't worry, though. I won't ask too much about it." She heard Naruto sigh in relief and follow her.

"So where are you going Sakura-Chan?"

"To see Tsunade. A friend of hers came back with me, and she was supposed to…"

"SAKURA!" Sakura turned around and saw Tsukiko coming towards them.

"Hello Tsukiko-san, how are you?" Sakura asked.

Tsukiko stopped in front of her. She looked at Naruto and smiled.

"And you must be Naruto. Tsunade told me a lot about you. I am Tsukiko. I came with Sakura" They shook hands. Tsukiko then turned to Sakura.

"Now then Sakura, shall we continue what we started before we came here?"

"Let's go then" Sakura said; however, she noticed Naruto's confused face.

"It's just a thing between her and I. Don't you worry about it. Go and see Hinata, or I will kick your ass," Sakura said.

Naruto nodded, but looked unsure if she was joking or not. Deciding to not to find out, Naruto left the two women alone in the street.

"So shall we go?" Tsukiko said, grinning. Sakura nodded and they went towards the training grounds.

* * *

><p>"Now, in order to find the negative and positive chakra, I need you to sit down and meditate just like the toad sage does. However, instead of natural chakra you will gather negative and positive chakra," Tsukiko explained.<p>

Sakura sat down in a meditative position watching Tsukiko walk back and forth.

"I need you to focus on finding the chakra both in yourself and around you. You're going to sit here meditating for several hours. You are not to move an inch. Not only will you start to feel the chakra, but you will also learn patience which is something you are going need."

Sakura nodded and breathed deep and calm breaths.

"Meditate, got it," Sakura said lowly and relaxed. Tsukiko sat down a bit far away from Sakura. She would watch her, making sure the negative and positive chakra would not do any damage. If needed, she was prepared to use the staff. It was made of ice and crystals. One touch with the staff would remove the negative and positive chakra if needed, but she had no doubt Sakura would be able to handle it. Her charka control would be the key here.

Tsukiko relaxed while watching the young girl. When Tsunade had told her about Sakura and what had happened around her recently, Tsukiko was shocked. At first glance, Sakura looked like a fragile girl, but after finding out she had been trained by Tsunade, Tsukiko had enough common sense to not underestimate the girl. She only hoped the negative chakra would not be overwhelming for her. It would be bad, but she had faith in the girl.

In Sakura's head

At first, everything was dark, but it slowly got lighter. Sakura felt the presence of the positive chakra. It was all around her.

"Alone… am I alone," a tiny childish voice whispered in the dark. Sakura turned around looking for the child who had spoken.

"Who's there," Sakura asked. She tried not to tremble, but her voice broke.

"Where am I? Am I alone? I'm Scared."

Sakura gasped in pain, she clenched her shirt, the pain was radiating in her chest. When she opened her eyes she saw a younger version of herself.

"Who am I," the younger girl asked with fear in her voice, "I don't know who I am, and I'm scared."

Sakura tried to get to the younger girl; however, something was stopping her. It was as if something was holding her back.

"A scary man is after me," the younger girl whimpered. Sakura struggled trying to get to the girl, but it was all in vain.

Sakura closed her eyes, but when she opened them, she was in a room. Looking around, she saw it was her uncle and aunt's house.

"How are we going to do this? We just killed Sakura's parents to get her gift, but we can't do this. What if she accidently uses it and the gift reveals we killed them?"

"Don't worry, I already thought about that. I have a friend who will help us."

"Who?"

"That would be me," Danzo replied as he walked into the room. His stoic face showed no emotion.

"Danzo?"

For a moment, Sakura forgot to breath when she realized this was an event that happened when she was younger, but how could how could she be seeing this now?

"Relax Mari, everything will be fine," Takeshi said, trying to calm down the woman.

"Do you even realize what will happen if the Hokage finds out what we have done?! We will be executed for sure," she exclaimed.

"Don't worry, Mari. I will make sure Sarutobi doesn't find out," Danzo assured her. "I will help you and seal her gift; however, when she is around sixteen or seventeen, I want her to be brought into ROOT. She will belong to me, and I will use her abilities as I see fit." Danzo said smirking.

Mari and Takeshi nodded.

"Deal. Until then, we will raise her and make her believe that we are her real parents. She won't find out," Takeshi said with confidence.

Sakura felt sick and wanted to get out of there. Turning around and closing her eyes, she tried to block out rest of their conversation. She did not want to hear any of it.

"Please make the pain go away," the childish whisper echoed.

Outside of Sakura's mind

Tsukiko stood up and raised the ice crystal staff and touched Sakura with it. Pressing it on her shoulder, Tsukiko pushed Sakura backwards. Sakura's eyes opened wide in shock and revealed the tears in them.

Tsukiko frowned and sat down beside her. She placed her hands on Sakura's shoulders." Sakura, what happened?"

Sakura gasped for air, trying to calm down, but the tears just continued to fall.

"It was dark… I heard a little girl's voice. It was saying she was scared, asked where she was, and that someone was after her. But the weirdest thing, was that when I saw the girl, it was me when I was younger. Then, I saw my uncle and aunt talking with Danzo," Sakura sobbed.

Tsukiko wrapped an arm around her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. "I think we need to go see Tsunade. Maybe, she will be able to shed some light on this."

Sakura nodded and let Tsukiko help her up. Then, they walked towards the Hokage tower to see Tsunade.

* * *

><p>Tsunade was in the middle of a discussion with Shizune when Tsukiko and Sakura came into her office. Tsunade got serious when she saw Sakura's shaken form. She was being supported by Tsukiko who still held an arm around her waist.<p>

"What happened," Tsunade demanded as she got up and helped Tsukiko move Sakura to the couch to sit down. "Shizune get her some water," Tsunade barked, making Shizune run out of the office. Tsunade turned to Tsukiko to get some information.

"We had started to train with the ŌkamiSenjutsu, and Sakura had started with meditating. She had been doing that for at least half an hour when I felt the negative chakra starting to overwhelm her, so I broke her meditation with the ice crystal staff. After that, she started gasping and crying, saying she saw a little girl who was actually her when she was younger. Apparently, this younger version of Sakura had said she was scared and alone. The younger Sakura also said someone was after her and was asking where she was. If that wasn't enough to freak Sakura out, she also had a vision of when her aunt and uncle agreed with Danzo to let him seal her gift and make arrangements for him take her into ROOT," Tsukiko said worriedly.

Tsunade touched Sakura's forehead lightly making Sakura flinch. When she saw Tsunade, she panicked and started apologizing. Tsunade sat down beside her and wrapped her arms around her, murmuring comforting words. Tsunade shot a worried glance towards Tsukiko who was also concerned. Something had trigged the seal that blocked Sakura's gift and made her see the truth about her aunt and uncle who pretended to be her parents.

Tsunade wanted nothing more than to beat the crap out of those two. They were lucky they were in prison, and she had no time to go beat the hell out of them. Either way, it would not help Sakura now.

"Rest Sakura. Try to relax."

Sakura nodded and closed her eyes, listening to her mentors talking to each other in hushed voices in an attempt not to disturb her.

In Sakura's mind

Sakura opened her eyes carefully and checked out her surroundings. She was still beside Minato who was awake, but his eyes were closed. His arm was resting around her waist. Sakura moved slightly only feel Minato unconsciously tighten his grip around her. Sakura looked up at him smiling slightly, but she knew the smile did not reach her eyes.

"What's the matter Sakura," Minato asked. Opening his eyes, and stared down at her and met her gaze. He frowned when he saw the expression on her face.

"I don't know… I think something went wrong when I was training with Tsukiko. I don't really know what happened. I was meditating just like she told me to, and then everything went black, and I saw a younger version of myself. She was saying she was scared, lonely, and someone was after her. Then suddenly, I saw my aunt and uncle with Danzo talking about sealing my gift. I guess it was around the time they had killed my parents. It was so confusing," Sakura said.

Minato could tell she was upset. "Hey, relax. Stressing out over it isn't going to solve anything." Minato moved a bit, pulling Sakura with him. He moved her so she was sitting on his lap, his arms wrapped around her waist. Sakura felt embarrassed sitting like that, but Minato refused to let her go and tightened his grip on her.

"Minato," Sakura complained, but that only made him grin.

"What's the matter? Is something wrong," he asked innocently. Sakura pouted but said nothing. Instead, she made herself comfortable by resting her head on his shoulder. Minato glanced over her shoulders and saw Saki sitting by a tree, but he ignored her. She did not approach them nor say anything from where she was sitting.

"Sakura, you don't need to worry. I am certain there is a reason, and I'll be here for you if you want or need to talk. It will be all right."

Sakura looked up at him, and a small smile appeared.

"Thank you, Minato. That means a lot to me," she whispered.

"It just feels like there is so much that I am missing. I don't get it. Why would Danzo want me to join ROOT," Sakura whispered more to herself than to Minato, but he heard her and froze. He tightened his hold on her. He never liked Danzo. He was always a very dangerous and power hungry man. It was best for one to avoid him as much as possible to reduce the risk of gaining his attention or incurring his wrath.

Minato could not blame Sakura for being worried. He needed to figure out a way to get her to relax, so she could focus on her training. He had hoped that the training with Tsukiko would go smoothly, and they would be able to keep her training with Tsukiko separate from her training with him. He really needed to continue with her training. Sakura had moved on to more complicated seals, and he had high hopes that he would be able to teach her to use hiraishin in the near future since she her chakra levels were the same as his now. He wanted to make sure she was ready for anything. Because, he had a feeling something bad was coming very soon.

TBC

God this chapter was a bit heavy to write. I don't know why. Maybe it was because I got tired at halfway through and didn't know how to end it. But I hope you like it. More fluff. I hope you enjoyed it and will give me a review. People you're making my day with all reviews. R&R people see you in next chapter.


	19. Chapter 19

We're tied together by our souls

"Blabla" Saki speaking

"Blabla" Minato speaking

Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 19

Sakura was once again at the training grounds with Tsukiko. After being comforted by Minato, Sakura had woken up from her nap, gotten herself together, and searched for Tsukiko. Sakura asked her if they could continue their training. She refused to give up, and while Tsukiko had hesitated, she had finally agreed.

Tsukiko was sitting under the same tree as the first time they had been there. She was focused on Sakura who was now meditating. She saw the changes as Sakura slowly achieved the ŌkamiSenjutsu. She could see the grey color slowly appearing at her eyes. Tsukiko smiled softly. She was surprised that Sakura was able get it down so fast. It seems whatever had happened earlier was no longer an issue, and Sakura did not show she had any problems.

Suddenly, Tsukiko saw a flash of yellow land beside her. Turning her head slightly, she saw Naruto standing there.

"Hey, sorry if I am disturbing you two, but team 7 has been summoned by Tsunade baa-chan. It's an emergency," he said, looking serious. Tsukiko sighed but stood up and walked over to Sakura and let the staff touch her shoulder lightly.

"Sakura, you and your team have been summoned by the  
>Hokage. We must stop your training for now. You're probably going on a mission or something," Tsukiko said softly. Sakura opened her eyes, nodded, and stood up. The grey around her eyes had disappeared. She saw Naruto standing there waiting for her.<p>

"Okay, then let's go." Sakura grabbed Naruto and they headed towards the Hokage tower. When they arrived, to their shock, Kakashi was already there waiting for them.

"What's the matter," Sakura asked worried.

Tsunade looked serious. Her hands were clasped together. "We just got a message that the Akatsuki kidnapped the Kazekage." Sakura tensed and saw Naruto clenching his fists trying to control his anger.

"They got Gaara?!"

"Kankuro, his brother, tried to go after him, but he was defeated. He has been poisoned and their medics aren't able to heal him. Your mission is to go the Village Hidden by Sand, and help them in any way to find Gaara. But, be careful. Especially you Naruto since they are after you as well. Don't be reckless and obey all of Kakashi's orders! Understood?" Tsunade eyed the blonde shinobi in front of her. Naruto nodded but said nothing.

"Then you're dismissed. Leave as soon as possible."

Team 7 left the office.

Kakashi addressed his team, "We meet at the gate in thirty minutes. Don't be late. It will take three days for us to get to the Sand Village."

They nodded and departed quickly. All three went on their own way to prepare themselves for the mission.

Sakura got to her apartment and packed her bag. She quickly started going through what she might need on the mission. She was so focused on the task, she didn't hear Saki or Minato trying to get her attention.

"HEY FOREHEAD!"

Sakura stopped in the middle of a movement. Her eyes narrowed, annoyance showing on her face.

"Saki, don't you dare to call me that," Sakura murmured while glaring at the wall since Saki was in her mind and not in the room with her. Saki snickered at her but said nothing.

"Why are you in such a hurry," Saki asked curiously. Minato muttered something under his breath.

"Our team has been assigned a mission," Sakura answered. Deciding to ignore Saki, she continued to get ready to leave for the mission with Naruto and Kakashi.

"With team 7," Minato asked seriously.

"Yeah, it seems the Kazekage was abducted by the Akatsuki, and we are to help the Sand Village to get him back."

"That's sounds very serious. Be careful! If those criminals were able to kidnap the leader of the Sand Village, I have no doubt that they are dangerous."

"Saki, they are S-ranked criminals. Of course, they are dangerous. What did you expect? That it would be easy? Why did you think Jiraiya-sama took Naruto out of the village in the first place? It was to keep him safe from those criminals," Sakura argued, getting more annoyed by her. Minato probably sensed that and decided to interrupt Saki.

"Which means YOU need to be cautious when you approach the enemy. We don't know who we are fighting against, and you will probably need to keep Naruto in line. I'm afraid, he got Kushina's personality, so I can guess he will try to get to the enemy instead letting the enemy come to you."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but that option simply does not exist in his head. He is one simple minded person. Fight first, and ask questions later," Sakura replied with a grin.

No longer listening to Saki or Minato, she closed her bag and hurried out of her apartment.

When Sakura arrived at the gate, she saw Naruto had arrived but Kakashi hadn't.

"Kakashi-sensei isn't here yet," Sakura stated. Knowing the answer, she didn't even bother to ask. Just as Naruto was about to open his mouth to answer her, Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke looking serious.

"Good, you both are here. Now, let's get going. It will take us about three days to get there." With that, team 7 left their home and headed towards the Sand Village.

* * *

><p>Sakura sensed Naruto was trying to speed up, but Kakashi was telling him to calm down. She had a feeling that if he wanted to, he could go much faster considering he had Kyuubi; however, she had no idea if Naruto could control the fox's chakra yet and hoped that he wouldn't use that. After all, the Akatsuki was after him as well, and sending him on this mission was dangerous. But, Gaara is Naruto's friend, and if he was told about this and wasn't allowed to go, he would most likely go without permission.<p>

They had met up with Temari along the way. She was shocked to hear what had happened and wanted to get back as soon as possible. She was worried about her brothers' safety, and Sakura couldn't blame her for that. It was natural for anyone to worry about a family member, and since Temari and her brothers had lost their parents, their mother in childbirth and their father murdered; they only had each other left.

Sakura had been briefed about Kankuro's situation. He had been poisoned, and Tsunade trusted her to create an antidote since the medical shinobi of the Sand Village did not have much knowledge of poisons, nor did they have an antidote for this particular poison.

They had been in the desert for a while, and Sakura could see they were getting closer.

When they arrived, they were greeted by Baki, the former sensei of Temari, Gaara, and Kankuro. He informed them that Kankuro was in the emergency room, so Sakura asked him to take her there.

Baki guided them to the hospital where Sakura got to work immediately. By making a small incision in his chest, Sakura used her chakra to get the poison out of his system; however, she still needed make an antidote since she was unable to remove it all.

"Would anyone be kind enough to help me to create an antidote? Kankuro is safe for the moment, but he needs an antidote to fully recover. There is still a small amount of poison remaining in his body," Sakura said. An older woman came in and stared at Sakura.

"You remind me of the Slug Princess, Senju Tsunade, "she stated which brought a smile to Sakura.

"Perhaps that's because Tsunade-sama is my teacher."

The woman nodded and turned to Baki who looked relieved that Kankuro would survive.

"Who is this woman," Naruto exclaimed making Sakura want to smack him over the head.

"This is elder Chiyo-sama," Baki said.

"Kankuro, do you know who was behind this," Chiyo asked.

Kankuro coughed but nodded. "I do know, at least one of them. It was Sasori of The Red Sand."

Chiyo's eyes widened in shock. "Are you sure," the elder woman asked only to get a nod from Kankuro.

"All right then, I will make an antidote right away," Sakura said and motioned to a nearby medic to go with her to gather the herbs needed to create the antidote.

* * *

><p>Sakura and the other medic arrived at a greenhouse and the Sand medic led them both in so they could gather the necessary herbs and ingredients to make the antidote.<p>

"You don't have many of these do you," Sakura asked looking through the herbs.

"I'm sorry. Because of all the sand, it's difficult for us to grow the herbs here," the medic said, looking sad. Sakura smiled.

"Don't worry. I'll be able to make at least three antidotes to this poison with what you have here." Sakura got up from kneeling position and headed towards the table where she would make the antidote.

With the medic's help, Sakura was soon finished and ready to give Kankuro the antidote. She returned to his hospital room. Sakura noticed Naruto glaring at Chiyo, but she didn't bother to ask about it. Instead, she went to Kankuro and gave him the antidote. She could feel everyone watching her every move; however, she decided to ignore them.

"Please drink this, Kankuro. It will help you to get better and remove the remaining poison from your body."

Kankuro grabbed the cup tiredly, and Sakura helped him to lift it to his mouth.

"Poor guy. That poison must have been hell to live through. Luckily, we have never been poisoned before."

"Don't say that. Considering the enemy have that poison, there is a risk that we could get poisoned as well," Minato grumbled.

Sakura silently agreed with him. Minato was right. If the enemy used that poison, they needed to be cautious when they approached them. She was only able to make three antidotes, and one of them was used on Kankuro. That left her with only two.

"Doesn't the Kyuubi's chakra prevent Naruto from getting poisoned?"

"I don't know, Saki. Considering it's dangerous for Naruto to use that chakra, it could hurt him. However, since the Kyuubi is sealed within him, I guess he would be stupid if he let Naruto die. If Naruto dies, so does he."

"What are we waiting for?! Let's go and get Gaara back," Naruto shouted as he lifted up his bag.

"Easy Naruto, we can't rush in to the enemy's hideout without a plan," Kakashi said seriously.

"Naruto."

Sakura turned to Kankuro who had struggled to sit up. He was holding something in his hand.

"I got this from the enemy. You can use it to track them down, and please Naruto, save my little brother." Kankuro gasped in pain and was forced to lay down again by Temari who was by his side.

"Don't worry; I will save him! Gaara is my friend, and I won't stop until I find him!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. Typical Naruto to promise something like that. However, she vaguely wondered if they would find Gaara alive or dead considering the Akatsuki were after the tailed beasts, and Gaara had the Ichibi sealed within him.

"Well then, let's head out," Kakashi ordered.

Temari stood up from her chair. "I'll go with you," she said; however, Baki spoke up, "No Temari, you are needed here since Kankuro is down."

Temari glared at the floor, but she didn't said argue with him.

"Don't worry Temari. I'll go with them," Chiyo said. Everyone looked at her shocked.

"Elder Chiyo? Are you sure," Baki asked unsure if she was joking or not.

"I am, and besides I wouldn't want to miss the chance to meet my grandson," Chiyo replied.

"All right. We need to head out right away if we are going to have a chance to track them down and find Gaara," Kakashi said. Everyone nodded, and then team 7 plus Chiyo left the room.

* * *

><p>Team 7 was waiting for Chiyo to join them so they could leave. Kakashi had summoned one of his tracker dogs. Sakura remembered that little dog who talked with Kakashi. He had an attitude, but she couldn't blame him for that since his owner is lazy and only gets serious when the situation is grave.<p>

Sakura was leaning against the wall behind her when she heard Chiyo's voice over her. Looking up, she saw Chiyo jumping down to land beside her.

"Now then, let's go," Chiyo said, and then, team 7 headed out to search for the Akatsuki and Gaara.

* * *

><p>It was starting to get dark, so they were forced to stop and rest. They had started a fire and sat around it while trying to rest. Naruto had fallen asleep quickly; however, he was murmuring about ramen while sleeping. Sakura had almost dozed off when Chiyo spoke up to Kakashi.<p>

"What's with that girl? Why would Tsunade decide to train her? What is her history?"

She heard Kakashi closing his book and sigh. "There's not much to say about Sakura's past. She comes from a civilian family. None of her family were shinobi; however, she has perfect charka control which is ideal for one to become a medical shinobi. She also has quite a temper. I guess Tsunade-sama saw herself in Sakura and decided to train her."

"And the boy," Chiyo asked.

"Naruto has been an orphan since he was born. His parents must have died. No one knows about it."

"Then why is it the boy reminds me of Konoha's Yellow Flash," Chiyo asked.

"I don't understand what you mean," Kakashi said lightly, but Sakura would guess this subject had made him uncomfortable.

"He deserves it. Come on, he must have known who Naruto's parents were. Right? I mean, if that old woman could see the resemblance between Naruto and Minato then who wouldn't?"

"The whole village apparently," Minato commented, sounding annoyed. Sakura had to refrain herself to snorting. She didn't want Kakashi to know she was awake while those two were talking.

"I think you do, but you don't want to talk about it. Or perhaps, the Leaf Village has been forbidden to talk about it," Chiyo asked while shaking her head. "I don't understand why your village would deny the boy to know who his parents were. Why would that be bad?"

"Please Chiyo-san, I am not allowed to talk about this subject."

"Oh? So, it has been classified. May I ask by who?"

"The Third Hokage."

Chiyo scoffed but said nothing more. Sakura decided to stop trying to keep herself awake and just fall asleep. With a sigh, Sakura felt the tiredness taking over, and soon, she was sleeping.

* * *

><p>Sakura was rudely awakened by Kakashi. She only heard that they needed to continue forward. It seems his dog had found their target's scent. She groaned and got up while rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She turned and saw Naruto trying to get up; however, he tripped and fell over a root. Sakura rolled her shoulders and stretched her arms and legs.<p>

"All right then, let's continue, and from now on, we must be on guard. We will approach silently," Kakashi ordered. He and Sakura both turned to look at Naruto.

"What," Naruto asked with a frown. Sakura snickered seeing his reaction. Of course, he would be oblivious to what Kakashi had meant by that.

"Never mind, come on," Kakashi said as he took the lead.

"Kakashi-sensei, you do realize that even if we are able to find the Akatsuki's hideout, there is no way we will able to handle it on our own, right," Sakura asked.

"Of course I know Sakura. That is why I sent a message for Tsunade to send another team to help us. We will soon meet them, hopefully."

"You don't sound so sure," Chiyo said, eyeing the copy ninja warily.

Kakashi shrugged, "Well, we will be going up against s-classed criminals after all, and there is also a chance that we will meet Uchiha Itachi there."

Sakura and Naruto tensed. They were fully aware of who Itachi is. He is the older brother of Sasuke. The man who killed the entire Uchiha clan except for himself and their former teammate. The man Sasuke wants to kill to finally get his revenge for his family. Sakura had read about Itachi; he had been a prodigy, he got his Sharingan when he was around six years old, graduated from the academy at ten years old, and became an ANBU captain at the age of thirteen. He was truly one of a kind, so why would such skilled shinobi kill his own family and betray his village to become part of a group of S-ranked criminal shinobi? It didn't make any sense at all.

Sakura noticed Kakashi had stopped and was signaling for them to stop and be quiet. Sakura tensed. Something was wrong. She could sense it. They landed on the ground, and she understood why.

In front of them, Uchiha Itachi stood waiting for them.

"So this is Uchiha Itachi. The man who slaughtered his own family," Chiyo remarked with disgust in her voice.

"Whatever you do, don't look in to his eyes. If you do, you'll find yourself stuck in a genjutsu," Kakashi warned without looking back at them. His attention was fully on Itachi.

"Don't worry, it will be all right," Chiyo said.

Sakura turned to Chiyo and asked, "Why?"

"If you were to fight an Uchiha alone, you would be in a dangerous situation. However, we are not alone. If one of us gets stuck in a genjutsu, one of the others in our team who has not been caught can use their chakra to dispel it by pushing it into your body. This will create a disturbance in your chakra system which will break the genjutsu."

"True, but this one is more complicated," Kakashi said. "Itachi has the Mangekyou Sharingan. If you get caught by that, you will be stuck in the genjutsu where it will seem as though you are being tortured for 72 hours, but in reality, you are only stuck there for a few seconds."

"Really? That sneaky Uchiha," Chiyo said glaring at the older Uchiha.

"You seem to know a lot about the Mangekyou Sharingan, Kakashi," Itachi replied after listening to his explanation.

"I also know you get exhausted from using it. I'm quick to pick up things. Especially since the last time we saw each other in Konoha."

"I see. In that case, I should end this quickly since you were able to learn all of that so easily."

"Kakashi-sensei, how do you want to do this?"

"Sakura, behind me. Naruto at my left, and Chiyo at my right. We fight him together as a team."

Sakura glanced at Naruto and grinned. She took a deep breath, and before she knew it, the battle had begun.

TBC

Hope you like it, I have worked on this last few days, and I had homework to do. But I made it up for you, this chapter is pretty long.


	20. Chapter 20

We're Tied Together by Our Souls

_Blabla"_ Saki speaks

"**Blah-blah**" Minato speaks

Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 20

Sakura groaned in annoyance. Naruto had, as usual, rushed straight into battle without a second thought. Kakashi had tried to stop him but failed, so they were forced to go after him. However, she had sensed something was off about the Uchiha. Something didn't seem right, and her instincts had been correct. It hadn't been the real Itachi they had been fighting against. Instead, there was someone else. Chiyo had recognized the man as a former Sand shinobi who had been used by the Akatsuki to stop them from getting closer.

Naruto had been careless, of course, and got hit, but it had only been a scratch. He would survive, but one would think he was dying after listening to his complaints about how it stings.

"Ouch, Sakura-chan! It hurts," Naruto complained, Sakura just ignored him.

"You'll live. Don't you worry," Sakura muttered lowly as she glanced at her blonde teammate.

"Sakura, are you sure?" Naruto whined, but he had a glint of mischief in his eyes which made her narrow her eyes.

"Unbelievable," she exclaimed, throwing a nasty look towards her teammate.

"Now, are you two finished," Kakashi asked, reading his damn book.

"Yes, we are," Sakura replied as she stood up and started dusting off some of the dirt from her legs. Naruto got up from the ground, looking serious.

"Let's continue Kakashi-Sensei. We can't waste any more time than we already have. Gaara needs our help," Naruto exclaimed. With that, they continued forward.

* * *

><p>They met Gai and his team by a cave on the river. "Yosh! Let's get down to business. We need to be youthful to save the Kazekage," Gai exclaimed while pumping his fist up in the air.<p>

"Now, calm down Gai. First, we need to do something about that seal. There are several tags around the area which need to be taken down at the same time, or we won't be able to get through," Kakashi explained, but it didn't calm down his "rival" at all. If anything, it made him even more excited. Sakura could hear Saki groan in annoyance. She had never liked Gai. He had way too much energy, and all the talking about the power of youth was getting annoying.

**"Is that Gai?"**

_"Unfortunately, it is. We also have the look alike, Rock Lee. They are not related, but at the first look you would think they were. They look so much alike that it is scary. How can two people be so alike WITHOUT be related to each other?"_

**"I have no idea. Actually, I had thought Gai would calm down with all that talk of the power of youth with time, but now I see that's not the case. In fact, he seems to have gotten worse,"** Minato said. Sakura just snorted.

"All right then, Neji, could you use your Byakugan to see where the other tags are," Kakashi asked the Hyuuga.

"Of course." Neji activated his kekkei genkai and took a look around. "I have located them."

"Good. We will go after the tags, and you stay here and remove that," Gai said as he pointed at the rock wall with the tag on it. "We will keep in touch with the radio."

"Got it," Kakashi confirmed. Sakura noticed from the corner her eye that Lee was about to try the microphone.

He took a deep breath, and then, "HELLO!"

Sakura watched as team Gai and Kakashi reacted. It was hilarious. Guy tried to talk to Lee, but Lee shouted into the microphone again making them almost deaf. "Lee," Gai pointed at the microphone, and Lee then understood and lowered the sound.

"Sorry," he apologized.

Sakura had to hold back her laugh, but having Saki and Minato chuckling in her mind didn't help her. She also noticed that Naruto was having problems holding back his laughter. Hopefully, Kakashi wouldn't notice them trying not to laugh at him. Team Gai left, and Sakura and Naruto composed themselves again.

"Now then, it shouldn't take them too long to get to the other tags. Sakura, I need you to prepare yourself. You'll be the one to knock down this wall once the seal has been removed," Kakashi said, making Sakura roll her eyes.

"Of course, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura muttered and walked to the wall. She stood in front of it waiting for the ok from Kakashi. She watched him as he counted down from three and then removed the tag. She assumed the others had done the same thing at the same time.

"Now, Sakura," Kakashi called out. She raised her fist and swiftly threw a chakra laden punch forward against the stone wall. It immediately exploded, and she jumped away to avoid the falling debris. She could sense Chiyo watching her from where she was standing. Sakura tried not to let that bother her, but that was easier said than done.

Sakura watched as Kakashi jumped down from where he had been. Cautiously, they walked into to the cave. Sakura noticed two people who were wearing black cloaks with red clouds on them standing deeper inside. It was the Akatsuki, and it looked like the blonde man was sitting on something or someone.

"WHERE IS GAARA BASTARDS?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM," Naruto screamed. He was absolutely furious.

The blonde smirked. "Oh? Was he was a friend of yours? Too bad you came too late to save him."

The blonde looked down at the figure he was sitting on causing everyone to focus on it. To their horror, it was Gaara. He was pale, not breathing, and lying there lifelessly. Sakura feared the worst. They had killed Gaara.

"GAARA! WHY ARE YOU LYING THERE?! GET UP DAMNIT," Naruto screamed as his eyes began turning red.

"He must be the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. Itachi was right about him being loud and noisy," said the weird looking guy who was standing beside the blonde man. He sounded bored and impatient. Kakashi spoke quietly into the microphone, but Sakura could guess that something had happened with Gai and his team that would delay their arrival.

The blonde man summoned something that looked like a large white bird and jumped up on it. The bird then grabbed Gaara with its mouth. "If you don't mind Sasori, I'll take the Kyuubi."

"Deidara, don't be cocky. You know what our leader said. One tailed beast for each pair," Sasori responded.

"Well true, but it would be a shame to let the Kyuubi walk out of here."

"Deidara you got the one tailed beast. Don't push your luck," Sasori exclaimed as the tail of the puppet charged towards Deidara barely missing. Deidara flew out of the cave, and of course, Naruto ran after him.

"Naruto wait," Kakashi called out to him, but he didn't listen. "Sakura, Chiyo, take care of him, but be careful. Gai and the others should be here soon. Don't overdo it!" Sakura wanted to argue with him, but said nothing.

"Oh, about time we got a serious fight."

"This is seriously nothing to joke about, Saki. The Akatsuki are a group of S-ranked rogue Shinobi which means we have a big problem," Sakura thought in response.

"Don't worry. It will be all right," Chiyo said, in a calm and comforting voice which brought Sakura out of her thoughts. Sakura looked over at Chiyo who looked serious.

"How do you know that," she asked.

"Because, I am here, and I know how my grandson fights. After all, he isn't the only one who fights with puppets. Also, I know he isn't a very patient man."

"Shall we start, or are you going to make me wait even longer," Sasori asked, indeed sounding patient.

"Sakura, I've got your back. That puppet's weakness is its back. I don't have the strength to break it, but you do." Sakura nodded and took up a kunai from her holster. She ran forward as Sasori projected several missiles that each broke apart and shot out countless senbon. Sakura used her kunai to block them and managed to dodge every single one.

"How strange," Sasori muttered as he thrust the tail of his puppet towards her, but it stopped just a centimeter from her face.

"NOW, SAKURA," Chiyo shouted.

Sakura jumped up, and with her fist infused with chakra, she punched the puppet destroying it completely. However, something jumped out of the remains and landed several meters away.

"Is that…," Sakura started to ask not turning her head to look at Chiyo.

"Yes, that's the real Sasori who was hidden within his puppet."

A red haired man appeared from the cloak. He had a blank expression on his face, no emotion showing at all. Sakura frowned. This was only getting worse, she could feel his chakra and it was frightening.

She heard Chiyo move and pull something out. Glancing out of the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Chiyo was holding an open scroll. It looked like a scroll that one would store something within the seals.

Something appeared with a cloud of smoke. Chiyo had summoned something, and then she saw it was two puppets once the smoke had cleared. A woman and a man.

"I see you have saved them," Sasori said in a dull tone.

Chiyo frowned. "Well, these were the first puppets you had ever created, so why would I not save them? Besides, I have made some changes to them. I hope you don't mind."

"Please, what do you think you can do against me with those two," Sasori asked.

"You'll have to wait and see," Chiyo replied.

"Well, I originally had no intention to use this, but it would seem you have given me no choice." Sasori pulled out a scroll and summoned a puppet. Sakura heard Chiyo let out a small gasp of surprise.

"It was you who was behind his death! I should have known," she exclaimed.

"Who is that," Sakura asked.

"That puppet is the Third Kazekage. He mysteriously disappeared, and no one could find his body." Sakura nodded taking in the information. How would they take him on if he knew how those two puppets Chiyo was using worked? How would they be able to take him by surprise?

"Let's continue then shall we?" Chiyo used the puppets to attack, swords coming out of the puppet arms; however, unlike Chiyo, Sasori used poison on all of his weapons. If one hit, you were doomed.

Sakura tensed. Just watching the battle between the puppets was amazing. How they could keep up with each other and control the puppets with only the chakra in their fingers was unbelievable.

Suddenly, Sasori turned his puppet towards her making it attack her with a knife covered with poison. She lifted up her kunai to block the attack; however, the male puppet Chiyo was using blocked the attack and pushed the Kazekage back a few paces. Suddenly, the Kazekage puppet was holding a sword, and it slashed the male puppet. Sakura jumped backwards to keep from getting hit by the sword and landed beside Chiyo.

The male puppet had been destroyed by Sasori, and now, he was heading towards the female puppet. Sakura clenched her fist. At this rate, this battle was not going to end in their favor. They needed to get the advantage.

_"You can always try to use wolf mode,"_ Saki suggested which snapped Sakura out of her musings.

"Right! Chiyo-sama, can you keep him busy for a while? I have something in mind that might be helpful, but it will take time for me to prepare it."

Chiyo nodded. "Of course, I can keep him busy. Do what you must do, Sakura!"

"Right!"

Sakura moved away from the battle and sat down in her meditation pose and took a deep breath to focus on collecting the positive and negative chakra around her. For some reason, it was easier for her to gather it there in the cave. Sakura could feel both positive and negative chakra starting to gather in her chakra system. She was sure the light gray around her eyes was starting to appear. The sound of weapons clashing threatened to distract her, but she was almost there.

After a short time longer, Sakura opened her eyes and everything felt and looked much clearer. Standing up, Sakura looked over to Chiyo who was still fighting with Sasori. He pushed the older woman back to where Sakura was standing. She noticed that Sakura was now beside her and gasped when she noticed the girl's appearance.

"Is that ŌkamiSenjutsu," Chiyo asked shocked.

Sakura looked confused at her. "You know about it," she asked worriedly.

Chiyo shook her head. "I read something about it in a very old scroll, but there wasn't very much information about it."

Sakura nodded feeling some relief. "All right then, let's take him down!"

Sasori studied the girl. He hadn't heard their conversation, but there was a drastic change in her appearance. Her eyes were sharper and surrounded by a light gray color. If he had to guess, she had probably entered a state that was similar to sage mode. If that's the case, she would probably be able to use natural chakra.

He needed to be careful. She might give him a battle to remember after all, but first, he needed to make sure this information would reach his leader. If the girl could use sage mode, she would be able to sense them if they were trying to capture the Kyuubi. Taking out a small scroll and a pencil, he quickly wrote down the information and summoned a puppet bird. Putting the scroll on the bird, he let it fly out of the cave.

"What did you do, Sasori," Chiyo demanded, looking at her grandson with narrowed eyes.

"I'm doing what I am supposed to do. My job."

He charged towards Chiyo with the Kazekage puppet; however, Sakura was quicker thanks her wolf mode. She stepped in front of Chiyo, and when the puppet was close enough, she punched it with a chakra infused fist sending it across the cavern into the wall.

Sakura grinned. That punch was much stronger than her usual chakra infused punches. Now, it would be more even in this battle.

Sasori looked at the puppet which was now stuck in the stone wall behind him. He was impressed by the strength the girl had. That proved that the rumors were true. The Fifth Hokage had taken on an apprentice and trained her to use the same strength that the Hokage herself was known for.

"Well, I have to admit that was quite impressive. Now, I'm even more excited to defeat you and make you my new human puppet," Sasori said with a crazed look in his eyes despite his face not showing emotion.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the criminal. She was disgusted by the man in front of her. How was he capable killing people and turning them into his human puppets? Chiyo raised a hand and chakra strings appeared and got stuck on Sakura's back.

"Ready, Sakura," Chiyo asked.

"Hai!"

"Let's get down to business shall we?" The puppet of the third Kazekage got out of the rocks, and Sasori moved it to attack Sakura. Chiyo waited for the puppet to get closer before pulling on the strings to move her out of the way.

Sakura had some trouble getting used to the wolf mode. The increase in speed and strength were almost overwhelming for her. She was forced to focus on her chakra to make sure she didn't waste any of it. She has always had perfect control of her chakra, and she'd be damned if she lost that now. She was grateful to have Chiyo helping her to move away from the Kazekage's attacks. The timing to dodge the attacks was the most important thing in this battle. One hit from his poisoned weapon could mean her death.

Sakura felt Chiyo pulling on the strings, and she found herself moving away from the Kazekage yet again. Sasori frowned. He was getting frustrated. It was useless to try attacking the girl as long as his grandmother was using her chakra strings to keep the girl out of the range of his attacks. So, he needed to focus on Chiyo first if he wanted to be able to get to the girl.

He moved the strings making the puppet change directions and move to attack Chiyo. Sakura noticed and forced chakra to her feet and ran towards Chiyo in an attempt to intercept that attack. Chiyo jumped back trying to dodge, but the sword the Kazekage was wielding scratched her arm before Sakura could get there. Flinching, Chiyo clenched her teeth in pain. She saw Sakura running towards the puppet and throw another punch at it.

"I have had enough of this. You are boring me. It's time for me to end this," Sasori said seriously. The Kazekage started to use something that looked like black sand.

"What's that," Sakura asked Chiyo who frowned.

"That jutsu is what made the Third Kazekage so famous. He created that technique, and it was the most dangerous jutsu he had. The sand is iron, and he could make anything out of that sand," Chiyo explained.

Sakura took a deep breath and prepared herself for the worst. If that sand was truly as dangerous as Chiyo said it was, then they had a serious problem to take care of. Sakura watched as the iron sand changed form to a massive amount of poisoned needles. She was not sure if she would be able to dodge all of them even with Chiyo's help.

Sakura glared at the sand. She heard Chiyo move slightly behind her and glanced back at her in time to see her grimace in pain.

"Chiyo-sama, have you been hit," Sakura asked, concerned for the older woman.

"I am fine. Focus on Sasori, Sakura. If you don't, it could mean your death."

Sakura looked at the Akatsuki member who had a frown on his face. He was in deep in thought, probably thinking how to the end the battle quickly.

Sakura decided to make the next move since Sasori was too distracted to do so himself. She ran straight at him, dodging every needle Sasori had his puppet throw at her. She felt Chiyo move the strings on her to make sure Sakura avoided the needles; however, it was becoming more and more difficult for Chiyo to move the strings to do so.

"I am sorry, Sakura. It seems that I won't be able to help you as much as before. I have been poisoned, and it's starting to affect me."

"Don't worry about it. I will be all right," Sakura said with determination. She needed to stay calm and focused, or they wouldn't be able to get out of this battle alive.

TBC

Chapter 20 finished hope you like it so far. Having much in school right now, so I hope you bear with me when it comes to update the story. However of course, please R&R people, and I have to thank my beta Demidia for helping me.


	21. Chapter 21

We're tied together by our souls

"_Blabla" saki talking_

"_**Blabla" Minato talking**_

Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto

Chapter 21

Sakura eyed Sasori with cautious. She knew it would be more difficult now since Chiyo had gotten poisoned. Sasori regarded them with a cold cautious look. He were wary of Sakura's strength and calculated a plan in his head, since Sakura had proved she was someone he needed to take seriously in battle. Sasori regarded the couple with a cold smirk and the puppet disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sakura eyes widen in shock. She was confused to why Sasori would recall his puppet but right now that wasn't the only problem she had.

Sakura were running out of time. The wolf mode soon coming to an end. Sakura could feel the negative and positive charka slowly leaving her body. Sakura took a deep breath.

"To think I would need to use my best puppets as a last resort to defeat a little girl and an old hag" Sasori summoned his army of puppets, making Sakura gasp in shock. She had never seen anyone who could use that many puppets at the same time. The only one she have seen using puppets were Kankuro. Sakura clenched her fist and mentally prepared herself. This would be a difficult battle.

Sasori let his puppets go forward meeting Sakura in the middle. The puppet were trying to hit Sakura but Sakura managed to avoid them with some difficulty.

Sakura jumped up to avoid a sword, which had poisoned on it. There were no time to rest, Sasori had no intention to let her take a break.

Sakura landed few meters away from Chiyo "Are you all right Chiyo-san?" Sakura asked, not looking back at the older woman, knowing if she took her eyes from Sasori, they would be killed.

"Don't worry about me, just focus on Sasori" she said her teeth clenched biting down to keep down a scream of pain.

Sakura nodded, but she were unsure. Chiyo were injured and got poisoned. Sakura had only two antidotes left but Chiyo needed the antidote. Sakura made a decision.

Taking up a small needle from her holster, Sakura jumped backwards and landed beside Chiyo and stick the needle in her arm. Chiyo looked shocked by her actions but Sakura said nothing. She rushed forward towards Sasori who had finally revealed that he had made himself a puppet and with a blades with poison Sasori meet Sakura half way and they clashed. Sakura used the advantages of the ŌkamiSenjutsu and moved quickly and dodged the attack, she punched Sasori, making him flew right onto the stone wall.

Panting, Sakura landed safely on a rock, leaving the wolf mode.

"Didn't think I would be able to use it so long. " Sakura muttered glancing at Sasori.

Sasori got up he looked at Sakura and then at Chiyo and before Sakura had a chance to move, Sasori went after Chiyo, the blade pointing towards her.

Without thinking, Sakura mustered all her chakra in her legs and forced herself to move and by a miracle, she got between Sasori and Chiyo, however, the blade went straight through her stomach.

"SAKURA!" Chiyo exclaimed shocked, she hadn't expected the young leaf shinobi to interfere Sasori's attack towards her.

Sakura coughed up some blood, she grabbed the sword, she knew the sword were poisoned so the best thing she could do now where to close the wound, but she couldn't let go of Sasori. She heard Chiyo move quickly behind her, and from the corner of her eyes Sakura saw Chiyo pulling something out of her bag and Chiyo throw it towards Sasori, who tried to pull back the sword from Sakura who refused to let go.

Sakura could feel the poison taking effect, she had no control of her chakra anymore, and she were slowly losing her sight, she lost her grip on the sword and fell down on the ground before Chiyo but before she fell unconscious, Sakura managed to pull out the last antidote she had with her and managed to stick it in her leg, Sakura saw Chiyo move towards her.

"Sakura" Chiyo exclaimed. Chiyo moved carefully, she had got several injures but she could care less of her own injures, she needed to help Sakura.

Sakura did her best to keep awake, but it was getting more difficult for her, she heard Chiyo move closer to her and Sakura knew Sasori had stuck, the thing Chiyo had thrown at him had been a seal which imprisoned him against the stone wall. Sakura heard Sasori and Chiyo talking but she were losing conscious, the last thing Sakura saw where Chiyo moving to her side.

Inside Sakura's mind

Sakura knew she were in her mind but she rather not to move. She heard nothing, but she sensed two person beside her.

"You're an idiot you know that?" Saki scolded. Sakura opened her eyes slowly and saw Minato and Saki looking down at her, worried.

"I don't know what you are talking about" Sakura tried but seeing the looks those two gave her, Sakura knew she were in for it now.

""What the hell were you thinking? Taking that sword for Chiyo. You could get yourself killed damn it!" Saki cursed and walked away to get some frustration out of her systems. Sakura wanted to laugh but it would hurt which she rather avoid. She sensed Minato were looking at her.

"Don't worry, I'm not dead, before I fainted I saw Chiyo move to my side, so I guess she is healing me right now"  
>Minato said nothing, he touched her face with his fingers gently, his face showing worry and concern.<p>

"You could get killed" he said softly, letting his fingers move over the skin lightly making Sakura shiver slightly. "It just happen, did it on instinct" Sakura said sighing.

"You were worried about Chiyo?"

Sakura nodded. "She were still affected by the poison and couldn't move properly and I couldn't stand there and watch Sasori attack Chiyo." Sakura felt his fingers move over to her hair. She had get used to Minato playing with her hair whenever he got a chance to do so. How he found so interesting with her hair will be a mystery.

"How come you like play with my hair?" Sakura asked softly. Minato shrugged. "You had an unusual hair colour, but now you have blonde. It suits you really" Sakura blushed, looking away from him.

"Why do you do that?" Minato asked, Sakura looked back at him

"What do I do?"

"Look away whenever someone is giving you a compliment, but have to admit that you are cute when you're blushing"

Sakura felt her face getting even more warmer so she tried to roll away from Minato but he wouldn't let her, he were holding her, keeping her secure in his arms.

"No need for being embraced, not like you are cute when you are" Minato added smiling softly.

"Now are you lying" Sakura said lowly. Minato shook his head. "Of course not, why would I lie?"

"To make me feel better?" Sakura asked rather than answered. Minato chuckled at her statement.

"Of course not, but you must promise me that you be more carefully from now on, we can't risk getting you killed, not now when you're progressing in the training." Minato spoken. Sakura narrowed her eyes but said nothing. She were tired and wanted nothing more than sleep.

"Minato, I'm getting tired" Sakura muttered, she barely felt his grip on her tense.

"Stay with me Sakura, don't you fall asleep now." Minato moved Sakura so she were sitting up, leaning against him his arm around her shoulders.

Sakura put her head on his shoulder and looked up at him, her eyes half closed. "Minato" Sakura murmured. Minato lightly shake her shoulder, trying to keep her awake. "Sakura listen to me, until Saki come back, stay awake."

Minato looked around, searching after Saki.

"Saki?"

Saki appeared in front of him looking worried and without a word she used the little chakra she had to find out what's going on with her. Sighing in relief Saki sat beside Minato.

"It's all right, she will be fine, it seems Chiyo have healed her just fine and she is about to wake up from unconscious"

Minato relaxed slightly, but he didn't let go of Sakura, which Saki noticed directly. "A bit overprotective are we Minato?" She teased, which Minato answered with a glare. Saki shake her head and let it go, she knew better than to tease Minato when he were in that mood. He could be slightly intimidating when he needed to be.

Minato looked back down at Sakura, Saki had a point, and he had gotten a bit overprotective over Sakura. He were worried about her safety and wanted to make sure she were fine. He cared for her, it was something about her which pulled him to her. She were intriguing him.

Pressing his lips against her hair, Minato sighed and closed his eyes. He could only hope he would figure it out, and he probably would do so and he had no intention to hurry to figure it out, he were certain he would do so in time.

Sakura opened her eyes, she saw Chiyo hovering over her, looking concerned. Sakura smiled to her as to tell Chiyo she were all right. Chiyo relaxed slightly and Sakura slowly got up in a sitting position. Looking around, Sakura saw Sasori stuck against the stone wall, his head were lowered. He didn't move or look up when they moved. It seemed that the fight were finally over. It had been rough but she had managed it with help from Chiyo of course.

Sakura glanced at the older woman who stood up. Chiyo looked down at Sakura.

"Can you stand? We need to get moving, Sasori is dead. We can leave"

Sakura blinked slowly while the information sink in her head. Sasori were dead. They could go after Naruto and Kakashi.

Sakura got up on shakily legs, but she got up none the less. She were determined to continue forward. Naruto and Kakashi probably needed some back up now, as Naruto were so reckless and ran straight after the blonde Akatsuki member.

"Let's go Chiyo. Kakashi-sensei and Naruto probably need some backup" Chiyo nodded and they headed in the same directions as Naruto and Kakashi had earlier.

IT didn't take long before Sakura could sense them nearby, but they weren't alone, team guy had caught up with them and were helping Kakashi and Naruto to handle Deidara.

Suddenly there was a big explosion not too far ahead of them, Sakura glanced at Chiyo who just went faster, Sakura followed her lead, hopefully there wasn't too much injured shinobi to take care of, since Sakura were exhausted and had not much chakra to use for heal.

They landed on the ground and saw two shadow clone of Naruto holding the body of Gaara. The blonde shinobi pecked up when he heard them landing in front of them.

"Sakura-chan" Naruto exclaimed and Sakura knew what he would ask her, so she went to his side, as his two clone lay down Gaara down on the ground. Sakura kneeled down and put her hands over Gaara's chest and let some of her chakra into his body, but as she had expected, Gaara were dead.

"Sakura-Chan?" Naruto asked, his voice broken. Sakura couldn't speak, she just shake her head in answer, refusing to look up. She knew Naruto were heartbroken. Gaara were his friend. They were the same, they had experience the same pain, as both of them were jinchuuriki of tailed beasts or in Gaara's case was, since the one tailed beast were now taken from him, leaving Gaara to die.

From the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Chiyo walking forward to Gaara and kneeled down at the opposite side of the body. Chiyo put her hands over Gaara's chest and slowly her hands started have a light green colour around them.

"Chiyo-san, is that…" Sakura asked, worried for the answer she would be giving. Chiyo grinned.

"I am old, I have seen what wars have done to our villages, our people. I never thought we would have a chance of peace. I was there on that fateful day when Gaara become the Jinchuuriki of the one tailed beast. I knew what would happen, and how the village would threat him. The Kazekage saw him as a weapon nothing else, even if it was his own son. I lost faith in this world but you Uzumaki Naruto have convinced me to believe one more time. It's too late for me to fix my mistakes but I know your generations will fix the mistakes the older generations have done. Seeing the friendship between you and Gaara made me believe there might be a chance left for this world. That something good can become of this cruel twisted world. You're like a sun, you shine brightly and reach out to people even to them who are lost in the darkness. I believe in you, Uzumaki Naruto"

With that Chiyo took her final breath and collapsed but Sakura who had moved to Chiyo's side, caught the older woman before she reached the ground. Looking down at Gaara, she saw him moving, he were breathing! Chiyo had brought him back alive!"

Gaara opened his eyes and first he were confused where he was, he looked like he had seen a ghost, but when Naruto put his hand on his shoulder and smiled a tearful and at the same time happy smile to him, Gaara must have realized that he were alive.

Sakura smiled but it didn't make the pain less knowing Chiyo had sacrifice her own life to bring Gaara back to life. It wasn't fair.

Naruto said something but Sakura didn't listen, she wanted to get away from this, and it was getting too much. Forcing back the sob Sakura took deep breaths to calm down.

She looked up and saw many sand shinobi standing around them. Sakura smiled, they had come to find their leader. Their Kazekage. Gaara wasn't alone anymore. He had many who cared for him and Chiyo were right about Naruto. He truly were like the sun. He brought happiness everywhere he went and make new friends all the time. How he could do it were a mystery for her, but it didn't matter how it he did it, the ability to make new friends are a gift Naruto was gifted with.

"What's going on? How come I am alive?" Gaara asked, confused. Naruto chuckled and explained to his friend what had happened. Sakura watched them under silence, Gaara took Chiyo's death and sacrifice pretty hard but he didn't show it but Sakura were certain of it.

"Well it seems our mission is finished and we can return home now" Tenten said, looking at the Kazekage. Neji nodded, agreeing with her. Sakura glanced at them briefly. She were certain there was something going on between those two but they denied it every time anyone said anything or asked them about it.

Team Kakashi and team guy were on the funeral for Chiyo before they left the sand village, to honour Chiyo for her sacrifice and courage. The old woman had taught Sakura much in so little time, and Sakura were happy for meeting Chiyo. The funeral were a blur for Sakura, she barley remembered how the funeral was or who had giving a speech for Chiyo, to honour her.

The only thing she were sure of, Sakura remembered they were standing outside the village, Gaara and his siblings were there to see them off. She saw Naruto and Gaara shake hands with each other and then they headed back to Konoha.

"Good work all of you" Tsunade exclaimed, looking proud at the both team. "You managed to bring the Kazekage back and brought him back alive, all thanks to Chiyo. I guess she wanted to redeem herself after all mistakes she have done in the past." Tsunade said softly. She had meet Chiyo many years ago. She had been skilled with her puppets and she had a great knowledge of poison and antidote.

"You're dismissed, Sakura may I have a word with you?" Sakura nodded and waited for the rest of the teams leaving, Kakashi were forced to drag Naruto out of the office, since he wanted to wait for Sakura.

Sakura saw Lee close the door after them and she turned to Tsunade. "Sit" Tsunade said, and Sakura took her seat in the chair in front of Tsunade. "Shishou?" Sakura asked, worried. Tsunade sighed. "You look exhausted, are you all right?" Tsunade asked worried about her apprentice.

"I am fine, it was a bit emotional to be on the funeral of Chiyo. I fought with her against Sasori. I was forced to use ŌkamiSenjutsu in the battle in order to defeat Sasori, however Chiyo were only the one who saw me using it, expect Sasori who is dead now." Sakura said.

Tsunade nodded silently and leaned back in her chair. Sakura tensed "Are Tsukiko still around?" Sakura asked. Tsunade nodded. "She is but she will leave as soon as your two are finished with your training, from then on, she will be in contact with you by using her summoning or sending a wolf with a message. She need to return to the ice crystal mountain soon as possible but she wanted to make sure that you are ready and are capable to use the wolf mode without problems."

"I see"

"How does your training with you know who going?" Tsunade said with a raised eyebrow. Sakura had no problem to figure it out who she talked about. "We are to continue as soon I'm done with Tsukiko, he didn't want to make me struggle with both at the same time" Sakura said. Tsunade nodded.

"I am glad nothing went wrong, I was a bit worried something had happen back there" Tsunade said shaking her head. Sakura bite her lip, she hadn't tell anyone about how she had taken a sword right into her stomach to protect Chiyo and she wasn't sure if she should tell them, Tsunade would flip if she told her shishou that.

"Sakura is there anything you haven't told me?" Tsunade asked, frowning seeing Sakura move uneasy.

"well… something did happen, I got a sword stuck right into my stomach with poison from Sasori but Chiyo healed me" Sakura said quickly and winced when she saw Tsunade eyes narrowed but she said nothing, she just stared at her under silence and Sakura didn't know how to handle it.

"Why am I not surprised? I know something would happen since my cup with tea broke for no reason"

"You're not mad?"

"Well, I should but Chiyo healed you well so I can't say anything except this, don't be so reckless please, I can't afford to lose you. You're my student and the last thing I want is to lose you" Tsunade said firmly.

Sakura smiled "I promise Tsunade-shishou I will be more careful" Tsunade chuckled and nodded "I guess that's the best I can get huh" Tsunade said smirking towards Sakura. Sakura relaxed. She were glad that Tsunade didn't took that too hard, she had enough scolding from Saki and Minato. they had been worried sick over her and in one way she were glad they were worried but at the same time, she wasn't so used to have someone worrying so much over her. Tsunade did it in her own way but she also showed it.

And for that, Sakura were happy

TBC

Chapter 21, oh my, what times go fast, already done 20 chapters and we are far from done, and we are not even halfway through the story. I am a wreck, sorry for keeping you wait for so long time but I have been very busy with school, a lot of homework and other stuff the past month so be nice now and please leave a review for this chapter will you be that kind since its almost Christmas in six days. So see this as a early Christmas gift from me and If you are nice and leave reviews there might be another update before the Christmas it's all up to you and if you leave review to me. Till the next time people!


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